Following Darkness MK II
by Lord Curly
Summary: Sequel to Soldier of Harmony. After leaving his life in Equestria behind Steel led a team of the greatest heroes in existence against a foe that threatens not only his old and new homes but everyone in existence. After numerous missions and mounting casualties, only his squad remains. Now on their final mission against this foe how will Steel react to returning to Equestria?
1. Home

**Following Darkness (MK II)** by Lord Curly

 **Note:** This is the sequel to Soldier of Harmony if you have not yet read that story read it first. I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and I will not claim I do so in this story unless I do come to own it which is highly improbable.

Chapter 1: Home

 **Unnamed Pocket Dimension referred to as the Lodge  
Completed missions: 1,578,339,671  
Approximate time past: Two thousand three hundred fifty years**

I sighed as I added two more dog tags to our wall of fallen heroes. I said a small prayer for Tex and Matoro, to be honest I didn't think that Matoro could die, he was a biomechanical robot after all but this time there just wasn't enough to put back together. I sighed again, we know that they aren't really gone and that we would see them again when we moved on ourselves but it's just hard to see our friends die. I couldn't suppress a shudder as I looked at the wall. Five hundred and twenty eight tags now hung on it, a painful reminder of how many we had lost and how few of us were left. We had found it slightly comforting to look at the digital record of our kill count after looking at the wall hence why we moved it here from the main room. Currently it was just over fifty three billion. With one last glance at the wall I left the room and walked down the hall to the main room. I paused at the door and remembered the first time I had walked through it. Because of the backgrounds of some our members I had decided to address everyone in my human form. I don't remember the speech I gave but I know none of them had a problem with me leading them. Over time I slowly reveled my alicorn form to the others and eventually I no longer had to be what I once was around them and I could be who I was now. Going inside I saw my team relaxing… the five of us are all that's left. Spyro and Cynder were laying in front of the fireplace just talking and relaxing. Having saved their own world the only things they got from this journey was friendship more experience plus continuing to be the heroes they are. Johnson and Anderson were playing cards, I'm not sure what they were playing after all we've been to millions of places and learned thousands of card games. It hadn't taken the two of them long to bond with each other when I created the squad. Anderson had no problems with the others or even me since I showed them on day one that I was an alicorn. Johnson was a different story, because of his history with the Covenant he was slow to trust anything that wasn't human but his interactions with the Arbiter showed that he could change and eventually he did get along with everyone. Seeing that the others were occupied I went over to the bar and procured myself a Reds Apple Ale. I drank about half of it before god walked in. He had decided to keep looking like Morgan Freeman whenever he wanted to talk to us, mostly when he gave us missions. "I have a mission for you and if everything goes according to plan it will be your last one." This caused the others to whisper to each other. After so long we had given up hope of ever defeating Shade and resigned to keeping the universes on their destined paths until we met our ends. "I have tacked Shade to a universe and your previous missions have made him weak enough for me to effectively trap him there. I have put, for lack of a better term, a shield around this universe which will keep him there and minimize his influence over the universe. This does not mean his powers have been block just severely weakened." That was good news to me. We had been caught off guard before and during many of our engagements with him he summoned legions of soldiers giving him time to get away… that was how we lost the first three members of our group. "Eventually he will break through this shield, it is up to you to stop him before that. As you know normally I would send you in with equipment from the universe you are traveling to but not this time. He has escaped too many times. This time I'm sending you in with everything I think will be useful." He passed each of us a data pad with information on the equipment we would be using.

The data is split into two different folders, standard and specific. The standard file contained information on the gear we would all have. Titanium-A alloy, environmental reactive camouflage covering, and limited active camouflage. Our helmets had different types of imaging, thermal, night vision, target acquisition mode (Halo 3: ODST visor mode), etc., as well as a motion tracker and compass plus various other things throughout the armor. The other file contained information on our specific armor variants. For instance I was the only one with full body armor, SPyro, Cynder, Johnson and Anderson would only have helmets, chest and back plates, and bracers, grieves, and boots. The two dragons would also get tail armor. Spyro's armor was basic, not too thick not too thin and would have a tail blade and would somehow enhance his breath attacks making them stronger and last longer, don't ask me how the technical description went way over my head. He would also be carrying our spare parts, since he's been with us he's gotten interested in engineering and the tech from the other universes, making him our unofficial engineer. Cynder's armor was more streamline due to her position as an infiltrator and would have a speed booster meant for short distances, a noise dampener designed to hide her footsteps, and an enhanced active camo unit which will last longer than the one the rest of us will have. Johnson's armor was bulky and had extra plating, a darker visor, a blowtorch, and a strength enhancement so he can still move easily with the extra plating. Anderson's armor was on the lighter side not so much as Cynder's but enough to let him use his speed to his advantage, Anderson is surprisingly fast and our designated rabbit when we need one. For this mission he would be the designated medic and would be carrying our medical supplies which is distributed among ten pouches dotting his armor, his helmet also have a biometric scanner. I would be getting the most upgrades, wing blades, a magic amplifier, and a voice distorter. The first two gave me some insight into the universe we would be traveling to namely that I contained magic and our bodies would be changed to allow us to fly, my first thought was that we would be going back to the Dragon Realms. It wouldn't be the first time we went back to a universe. Although needing a voice distorter was suspicious. The last thing on list was something called spark, "What's spark?"

"Not what, who. Blazing Spark is an AI that will assist you when needed." He passed me a data chip and I slid it into my helmet, which he materialized next to me, and Spark decided to introduce herself. "My name is Spark it's nice to meet you and I look forward to working with you." Looking at the others I notice them starting to finish their reading. "Now as usual you will have some time to get used to your new forms and learn about the universe you're going to." A new file appeared on our data pads. Opening mine I saw that it was only three pages long, "Uh, sir…?"

"You don't need to full packet as you are already familiar with this universe. Now for your new forms." He started glowing and I closed my eyes, I had kept them open once and it took me nearly seven hours to get my vision back to normal. When the glow through my eyelids faded I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed was that Spyro, Cynder, and I had not been effected, turning I got a good look at Johnson and Anderson. Johnson was now an olive green unicorn with a grey mane and tail combo with the UNSC symbol as his cutie mark. Anderson was a pegasus with a navy blue coat and a yellow-gold mane and tail, his cutie mark was the SSV Normandy with the Alliance symbol behind it. "Get used to your new forms and read the briefing packets. You have three hours before your journey to Equestria." I was speechless, this was it… I was going home.

* * *

 **Canterlot Castle  
Local time: 1420  
Seven years, four months, nine days since Steel's death**

Another dream, another morning filled with regret and longing. Looking at the empty half of my bed only served as another reminder. It's strange, at first I had these dreams every time I slept but as time passed they became less frequent but just as painful. Even after Seven years I haven't gotten over losing him. It always pains me when my daughter asks about him. Since she was born nearly nine months after his death she never got the chance to meet him. I walked over to my dresser and got ready for the next day but I couldn't keep my eyes from wandering to the picture of him I kept on the wall next to it. "I miss you Steel… we all do. I wish you were here, here to see our daughter grow up. To be with me." After I finished getting ready I teleported to Ponyville to pick up my… our daughter from school. I sent her to Ponyville's school because of the attitude the Canterlot ponies have, while my sister can handle their attitude I cannot. I think their attitude is insufferable and I'll be damned if I let my daughter be like them or _Prince_ Blueblood. The bell rang signaling the end of the school day and the start of the weekend. All the fillies and colts ran out of the building to enjoy the weekend, all of them except for Silver. She was staring at the ground and Ms. Cheerilee was walking next to her. Looking at my daughter reminded of him again. She had his deep blue eyes, her mane is cobalt with a silver streak in it, and her coat is grey, slightly lighter than Steel's coat was. "Hello Princess, I'm afraid I have some bad news. Silver got into a fight today."

"Silver Lining, you know better!" I took some calming breaths, she could be punished later. "What happened Silver?" She didn't look at me," Diamond Tiara was bullying me again." I sighed internally. After what I had heard from the cutie mark crusaders, back when they called themselves that, I didn't like Diamond Tiara. I didn't think that my daughter would have to deal with her but when the school was renovated and expanded students no longer had to go out of town for high school. So Diamond Tiara, as well as the former cutie mark crusaders and many others, came back to be closer to home. "Usually I just ignore her but she said something about dad." I narrowed my eyes, "And what did she say about your father?" Cheerliee was slightly worried by my dark tone. Silver shook her head, "I don't remember. I remember that I got really mad and then she was on the ground, I don't even remember hitting her." Silver was nearly in tears so I pulled her close and began to gently stroke her mane. "Cheerliee, tell Diamond Tiara's parents that if their daughter makes anymore comments about Silvers father there will be consequences. You might want to talk to them about her bullying problem too." She nodded in agreement, *sigh* I know I had hoped that by now Diamond would have grown up and realized that you shouldn't treat other like they're beneath you. But I guess she doesn't want to change, I'll talk to her parents Princess." We said goodbye and started to walk to the restaurant we were meeting Vinyl and Octavia at for lunch. On the way we stopped and I got Silver some ice cream which improved her mood. When we got to the restaurant Vinyl and Octavia were already at a table. "Hi Luna, hi Silver." We said hello and Silver went back to her ice cream. Octavia gave me a look, "You know that will ruin her appetite, right?" I told them about what happened. Naturally Octavia was concerned and I think Vinyl was too but I do know that she wanted to teach Diamond Tiara a _lesson_ or at least that's what I heard her muttering. While we were placing our orders I noticed a bracelet on Octavia's foreleg, it was gold and had an intricate design. Once the waiter left I asked her about it, "Where did you get that bracelet Octavia, it looks great."

Vinyl put a leg around Octavia, "Vinyl got it for me." She raised her leg so I could get a better look at it. Whoever made it put a lot of effort into it, each part of the design was hoof carved and the design took up the entirety of the bracelet plus there were treble clefs in the design. Despite not having any gems like most jewelry it was one of the best bracelets I had ever seen, Vinyl must have saved a fortune for it. In fact I don't think I've seen jewelry this nice since the ring Shinning Armor gave my niece Cadence when they… "Oh my, is this want I think it is? Are you tow getting marr-" They both cut me off and moved closer to me. "Yes, we're getting married." Octavia whispered, Vinyl nodded." Vinyl proposed last night, we haven't told anypony yet."

"That's wonderful, congratulations. I sure everypony will be happy to hear about this. We all knew it was only a matter of time, after all the two of you have been dating for almost three and a half years. Not to mention all that time you two spent glancing at each other too afraid to make a move. How long did that phase last, almost four years right?" They both blushed and I giggled. "If you want I'm sure my sister will be more than happy to let you have the wedding at the castle." We talked some more and they mentioned that they plan on telling everypony soon. After lunch we said our goodbyes to Vinyl and Octavia. Sliver ran off to play with her friends from school and her friends/ aunts, the cutie mark crusaders (now disbanded). Despite having found their cutie marks and no longer using the club name, having passed it on to other ponies who have yet to find their cutie marks, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo have remained best friends. They've known Silver since she was born and are considered her aunts like their sisters but Silver considers them her best friends. They also help her out with Diamond Tiara when they can which I am eternally greatful for. Briefly I wonder if Sweetie Belle is still dating Button Mash but I push that thought aside as I teleport back to the castle. As I walk to the throne room I mentally prepare myself for the many tedious and boring duties I have to perform. I promised Tia I would help with some of her duties, her work has increased tenfold over the past month. The increase should be temporary but even the two of us need time to ourselves. When I took over for my sister I told her about Vinyl and Octavia. She agreed to let them to have the wedding here if they want and went to write them a letter before relaxing. Personally I was a little worried about her, she's been acting differently lately. More than once I had caught her in bed with random stallions, one time it was with one of her guards. Two hours later Twilight stopped by and dropped of Silver. Silver was barely awake so I put her to bed and stayed with her until I had to start my own duties as princess.

 **Authors Note:** I'm back and better than ever… okay that last part might be a lie. Anyway going to keep this short, hope you enjoy the edits to the story so far hopefully it's better than the original cause that's what I was going for. Also for those of you who watch RWBY Spark sounds and speaks like Penny. There will be a long author's note at the end of chapter 4. And with this post the original Following Darkness is officially dead.

RIP Following Darkness MK I 4/29/14 - 12/25/15


	2. The Return

Chapter 2: The Return

 **Edge of the Everfree Forest  
Local Time: 1200  
Day of return**

When the light from our teleportation faded I found us standing in a familiar clearing. My home, my first home, was still in the tree but in a state of near collapse. Not surprising considering that after Luna gave me my house nopony had a reason to come here anymore. Looking around I saw that a dozen crates had been brought into the clearing with us. "Alright find your armor, make sure there's nothing wrong with it. Take as much time as you need." I doubted that there would be any problems. Before getting my armor on I went over to the crate with our weapons. Inside were five short swords, three crossbows with dozens of bolts, five knives, and my katana. I drew the blade making sure it was still sharp. It had been crafted during my time in feudal Japan when I had to learn the way of the samurai. It had the standard shape of the katana with some customization, the hilt had a black and dark blue pattern while the blade had a crescent moon engraved on both sides and the inscription, _Everything I do, I do for my love_ , in Japanese of course. I had toyed with naming it like the blades in so many stories but decided against it, there was no need to name it. Putting it back I put on my armor, while it wasn't the most complicated suit I've ever had to wear but it wasn't the simplest either. I had Spark run a diagnostic while I walk around, nothing felt out of place or uncomfortable and Spark reported no problems with the operating system or the armor itself. Once the others had finished their own armor checks I call a meeting to layout the plan for today. "Johnson, go into town. See if you can pick up some gossip and look for a job, we'll need a supply of bits if we're going to be here for an extended amount of time. Also go to the market make a list of supplies you think we'll need. I have an emergency supply of bits hidden in my old home, I'll get it and bring to you, get what you can. Anderson I found a note in my armor, go into town and find somepony called the doctor. Apparently he's going to brief us on what's been happening lately and answer any questions we might have. Spyro, I want you to fly over the forest, see if anything looks abnormal or out of place. Cynder, head to Canterlot but stay out of sight. Try and find a lead we can use, let me know if there are any big changes since I left." With that they began removing their armor, I stayed in mine because I need to be invisible as I made my way through town. After all, an alicorn will draw attention. I made my way to the edge of town before turning on my active camo.

I sighed as I entered the town, which had expanded since his death, I wanted nothing more than to go see my friends but since I was dead that wasn't a possibility. There were three things I noticed when I entered Ponyville. The first was the increase of guards in town, they didn't have armor I recognized, that was the second thing. The third thing was the large almost crystal looking tree on the other end of town, like Twilight's library it appeared to also be a house. Using the rooftops I managed to avoid the ponies on the street and after half an hour my house was just across the street, it looked surprisingly good for an abandoned building. I glided across the street to the front door, outside it looked like somepony lived here but inside it looked abandoned as it really was. The lawn was cut, the paint looked good, and nothing was broken or damaged but everything inside was covered in a thick layer of dust. Applying a small amount of magical force to the lock and pushing broke it and let me open the door. Despite the large amount of dust opening the door didn't cause a large cloud to form but walking across the floor left hoof prints in the dust. I didn't bother hiding them, it's clear that nopony had been here in a while. Heading upstairs I made my way to the master bedroom and removed the lose board from the closet floor. After I grabbed the bag I took a second to count what was inside: two hundred bits and a dozen assorted gems, just like I left it. On my way out I closed the door and made it look like it hadn't been touched. As I prepared to leave I saw Anderson walking up to Derpy's house next door. Heading back onto the rooftops I headed to the waypoint Spark had placed on Johnson's location. After giving him the bits I went back to the clearing. Seeing that the others hadn't returned yet excluding Cynder and Johnson, the former not expected to be back until nightfall and the later was just starting to buy what supplies her could afford. I took out my journal and made another entry.

 _Equestria- Day 1  
I'm not sure how I feel about being back here. I want to see Luna again but that would put her and all my friends in danger. Plus we're not allowed to reveal our identities to anyone we knew. Because of this I feel that I will need to make more than just one entry and the end of the mission_

* * *

POV change: Johnson

After removing my armor I walked towards the town known as Ponyville, strange name but after the other places I've been I didn't waste time thinking about it. I did take a small detour to grab one of my Sweet Williams from my gear and lit up on my way. I was a little put off by the looks I was getting. I definitely removed all my armor, maybe they have something against smoking. I was also a little disturbed by how much they were smiling, maybe it's because of all the things I've seen but it didn't feel natural for an entire town to be smiling at once. I decided to head to the market and look for a job on the way. After asking for directions a few times I found it about an hour later, personally I found it awkward to see ponies going to different carts or stalls for food instead of a single store. Not to mention that they're ponies in the first place but I had seen the Krogan, the Luminoth, and magnitudes of other aliens plus the aliens from my own universe, so it wasn't too hard to ignore that fact and move on. Taking a look around I made a quack mental list of what we would need, apples, apple juice, lettuce, tomatoes, other assorted fruits and vegetables, yes. Flowers and hey, no. I felt someone- _somepony_ bump into me and a small pouch appear under my hoof. Checking it I found some bits and gems that back home would have made me very rich but is apparently the common currency here. After Steel made the drop I felt my stomach growl so I walked over to what appeared to be a bakery of some kind. It looked like a giant gingerbread house and as I approached I saw that there was a help wanted sign in the window. Stopping just in front of the door I put out my cigar and threw it in the trash can next to a bench outside. I was hoping to get in, get a snack, ask about the job and get out, unfortunately they were in the middle of the lunch rush so I took one of the empty booths. It was a large semicircle booth and I was a little ashamed to take the entire booth for myself but the rest of the tables were full, but not long after I sat down two mare came and asked if they could sit with me. One of them had was orange with a cowboy hat and the other was cyan with a rainbow hair… mane? Still not quite sure what to call it, never really cared much for horses. But I shit you not, she was practically a gay pride icon, now I'm not homophobic but it's pretty damn funny. "Hey, I haven't seen ya 'round here before partner, ya new ta town?"

"Yep, me and my friends just got here we're going to be spending some time here. Names Avery Johnson Jr. but you can just call me Johnson." She extended her hoof for a shake, "Name's Applejack, me and mah family run Sweet Apple Acers on the edge of town." I looked to her companion, "I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria." It took all my training not to laugh at her name, "A pleasure." I tried not to sound sarcastic… it didn't work. We only waited for another minute or so before a pink pony bounced over to take our orders, literally she bounced. She looked at the two mare first, "Hi girls, the usual?" They nodded, "Alright, they'll be ready soon. My friends get the best." She turned to me and gasped before running off. "Wait, what about our orders…? Can somnepony explain what just happened?" I could only stare at where the pony had run off to. "Don't worry, that's just Pinkie being Pinkie." Now I was more confused than before but decided I didn't want to know. Not long after that a light blue pony came out of the back and picked up the pad that 'Pinkie' had dropped. "Sorry about that, I'm Cupcake. Can I take your order?" I just got a regular cupcake, ironic since it's also the mare's name. I also asked about the job, apparently I was the only one to ask about it since they put up the sign. She said I could start out on a trail run. Starting Wednesday, since Monday was a national holiday and Tuesday there was an event the bakery would be closed for, I had a week to prove I could handle the job, if not at least I would still get paid for the week. After eating I tried to pay but the two mares sharing my booth insisted on paying for me. "Consider it a thank you for letting us sit with and a welcome gift to Ponyville." They said, I tried to protest but eventually I gave in and let them pay. Stepping back outside, I traversed the market and bought some essential supplies. I felt like I was being followed on my way back to the clearing but I couldn't see anyone and after I met up with Anderson the feeling lessoned considerably. When we got back Steel had just finished pulling out the last tent and we could see Spyro flying over a nearby part of the forest, so he was probably almost done.

* * *

POV change: Anderson

This was getting ridiculous, every time I get to when somepony says the doctor is he's already gone. I like to think I'm a patient man but this is pushing my limit. Eventually I gave up on trying to find him and switched to finding where he lived. I was told he lived in an apartment on the west side of town. When I got there I didn't find the doctor instead I found a mare named Dolphin Dream. Apparently the doctor had moved out almost four months ago, she didn't know where he moved to but that somepony named Pinkie Pie would be able to tell me where he moved to. Other than a description and her name I had nothing to go on and with the luck I've had today I would never find her. On the bright side I had her description which is more than what I had regarding the doctor. I started heading back towards the center of town but as I passed a store that looked like an old carousel somepony ran into me… actually tackled is a better description. Liking up I got a face full of pink, when she backed up a started apologizing I got a good look at her. Bright pink coat with a slightly darker pink mane and three balloons as her tattoo… what do they call them, cutie marks?... Anyway it looks like I found Ms. Pie "Are you Pinkie Pie?" She nodded, "Yes indeady, that's me. I work at Sugercube Corner and I'm the town's resident party thrower…" I tried to get her attention but she ignored me too lost in her own rambling. After a while I just started walking to a different part of town, surprisingly she followed. I walked and she continued to talk, I chuckled when I realized how easy it was to tune her out… just like Udina, except she's much nicer than that prick. "So what do you need?"

"Huh? Oh, right. I was told you could tell me where I could find somepony called the doctor." She nodded and pointed to a house on the corner. "Sure he lives there with Derpy. If he's not there she should know where he is." She suddenly gasped and ran off, all before I could thank her. Shrugging I walked up the path to the door. I noticed a shimmer coming out of the house next door. Judging by the outline and what looked like ridiculous amounts of dust inside the house it was probably Steel, I guess he used to live next door. Knocking on the door I wasn't sure who to expect but it wasn't a gorgeous young mare. "Hi, I'm looking for the doctor or Derpy."

"Mom's not home right now but she should be home in a few minutes. Do you want to come inside?" I was honestly shocked, crime must be virtually nonexistent here. Before I could respond I heard the flapping of wings behind me. Turning I saw a grey mare with a blonde mane wearing what looked like a mail bag and matching hat. But all of that was second to the most noticeable thing about her, her eyes. Her eyes were pointed in two different directions, to be honest I found it amazing that despite her disability she could still be a functioning member of society. I don't look down on those with disabilities but her lack of proper vison had to be hard to live with. The mare walked past me, "Hi muffin, how was school? Did Silver stop by?" She hugged the young mare, "Fine mom, nothing really happened but I am looking forward to spending the weekend with you and Time. No the guards took her home after school, she got in another fight the other day so her mom has her taken home immediately after school. Oh yeah, he was looking for you." She said pointing at me. The mare extended a leg, "Hi I'm Derpy Hooves."

"David Anderson," I said shaking the offered hoof. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about the doctor." She smiled, "Sure I can talk about Time Turner. Although he still hasn't told me how he got that nickname." I followed them inside and sat on the couch. "So what did you want to talk about?" It took me a minute to get comfortable, I guess I'm not used to being a pony yet. "Actually I wanted to know where to find him. A friend of mine asked me to talk to him." She looked at the clock, "I don't know where he is but he should be home soon your welcome to wait here for him if you'd like." I nodded, "As long as I'm not a burden." She smiled and went into the kitchen while I waited on the couch. She offered me a drink but I declined feeling like I was already taking advantage of her kindness. I didn't have to wait long before I heard the door open, "Derpy, I'm back!" Turning the corner was a light brown stallion with a red tie and an hourglass cutie mark. Derpy came back in and kissed him, "Welcome home. How was your day?" He shrugged, "The usual, you'd be surprised how many clocks need repairs." They kissed again before he turned and noticed me. "Oh, hello, can I help you?"

"Yes, are you the doctor?" He nodded, "Yes, I am The Doctor, what is this about?" He sat on a cushion across from me, "My employer asked me to contact you on behalf of my group. I'm not sure if you were told to expect me." He nodded, "Your one of the mercenaries hired to help with our Everfree problem?" I nodded, I didn't know what he was talking about but I guess being mercenaries is a good cover. "Well I don't really have time to talk about it now but I free tomorrow. I'll meet you and the rest of your group at the park at noon." With my business concluded I said goodbye and thanked Derpy for her hospitality. About halfway back to camp I ran into Johnson but I got the feeling we were being followed. Looking at the tree line behind us I thought I saw three shapes, one pink, another purple, and the last was a dark blue. But I blinked and they were gone, I kept my eye out for them but I wasn't too worried, if they were hostile they would have attacked already. The feeling of being followed stayed with me for the rest of the trip back to camp but lessened.

* * *

POV change: Cynder

 **Canterlot  
Local time: 1430**

The flight to the city was more difficult than I had expected. It wasn't the distance that was the problem it was the amount of others in the sky. It's been a long time since I was flying in a crowded sky… and it was time I don't want to remember. But the city is my element with its numerous alleys and dark corners, not to mention my shadow powers, I could remain unseen. Plus I was only slightly taller than the average pony so once I 'acquire' a cloak it would be easy to blend into the local population. If any of them somehow got a glimpse of me under my cloak there could be panic but with my power over shadows I should be able to shape the shadows around me to give me the shape of a pony or I could just darken the inside of my cloak so no one can see through the shadows. I took me a while to get a cloak, the security in the stores was more than I expected but nothing I couldn't handle. I started my search in the market and made my way to the castle. Nothing really stood out as an immediate danger but I did pick up a few things the others might want to know, deterioration relations with the gryphons, missing ships, and hospitalization of one Fancypants due to food poisoning. That last one definitely not Shade, he aims to kill so Fancypants wouldn't have survived if it was him. Five blocks from the castle I heard my first bit of big news, there was going to be a wedding at the castle soon. I don't know when it is, what room it's going to be in, or even whose getting married but it's a start. Using my shadow powers I snuck past the guards and moved around the castle grounds. I didn't learn much else about the wedding only that it was on Monday, two days from now. Just as I was about to round a tree I almost walked into Princess Celestia, luckily my quick reflexes sent me into a bush next to the path. As she passed I heard her speaking with someone. I waited until I couldn't hear them anymore before carefully getting out of the bush making sure none of the guards were nearby. I walked around for another hour before leaving, learning nothing new. I kept the cloak on as I flew mostly because I didn't want to deal with the locals freaking out about a dragon.

* * *

POV change: Luna

 **Ponyville  
Local time: 1200  
Seven years, nine months since Steels death**

For the longest time walking around town brought back memories, while not unwelcome, I didn't want to remember them. For instance, the street I'm currently on is the same one me and Steel took when he was walking home the day we met. The first few weeks after I got the ring I avoided this town like the plague, it was hard to come back to place that constantly reminded me of him. I knew I would have to come to terms with his death and eventually walk through this town like I used to. As time passed the pain all but faded away… but recently it's resurfaced. For the past few days I've been having dream, dreams of our family becoming whole. They are all different but overall they would have me and Silver returning home and Steel would be there, waiting for us. Sighing again I wandered aimlessly through Ponyville. Ona normal day Silver would be going out with her friends or I would pick her up but in the past month she's gotten into three fights so I'm having the guards escort her home as soon as school's over. I'm worried about her, she seems angry a lot and is more prone to violence than, well ever. I had tried talking to her about it but she is reluctant to let me in, to be honest I know what it's about, it's Steel. From what I've learned she started all of these fights when somepony made the wrong comment about him or said something about not having a father. Sighing again I hoped for a distraction from my thoughts about dreams and my daughter's fights. Looking around I found that my wandering hoofs had brought me to a familiar house forever frozen in time. Looking through the window I saw it exactly how I left it when I closed the door for the last time all those years ago, which in hindsight is a short time compared to how long I've lived. When I first found out that I was pregnant I had toyed with idea of living here with our foal but decided against it. This place just held too many memories and at the time I wasn't ready to deal with them. Now, I think I could live here with Silver… but I just can't bring myself to open the door and destroy my own personal monument to his memory. I was about to leave when something caught my eye… the door. It was nondescript and looked like any other door but what caught my eye was the slight space between the door and the door frame. I've stood in front of this door many times over the past few years, the door has always been closed and it should have remained closed forever. Slowly opening it I felt a fire burn inside me I had not felt since sompony had disgraced Steel's _grave_. Sompony had broken the lock, entered his home, and desecrated my memorial. I took a few calming breaths, closed the door as best I could, and teleported to Twilight's castle where I promptly exploded in anger. Twilight tried her best to calm me down but I wasn't listening. It was bad enough that the Canterlot nobility denied my request for a holiday in his honor, for his actions and sacrifice that ended the Shadow War, and a young colt, who I let off with a considerably light punishment, defiled Steel's grave with graffiti because of some stupid dare but this, this was just too much. "Animal, all of them! Do they just not care about everything he did!? What he sacrificed!?" By now Twilight was levitating me off the ground but I was so enraged I didn't notice. "Luna, calm down and tell me what happened."

"What happened? What happened, is that ponies no longer have any sense of honor or respect! Apparently ponies simple do not care anymore! They didn't care enough to honor Steel like I wanted years ago and now somepony has broken into his house!" I could see her eye twitch at that, "Captain Wolf, I'm leaving. If anypony asks where I am tell them I'm busy and not to be disturbed." He nodded from his position next to her throne. Lone Wolf was the captain of her personal guard. When it had been decided she needed her own personal guards she considered many names including Dawnguard which was mostly a joke considering her name was twilight the opposite of dawn. In the end Twilight decided on naming the guards the Fade Guards, representing how the day fades into night at twilight, another joke apparently but she liked it. Their armor was a pale orange pink mix and the plume on their helmets started as white at the top but gradually faded to black at the bottom. The whole armor set was filled with representation and symbolism of the corps' name that I never quite cared for. It seemed only fair that she got her own guards considering I have the Lunar Guards, Tia has the Celestial Guards, and Cadence has the Crystal Guards. Steel probably would have had his own guards had he been crowned prince of Equestria… sadly that day never came. She teleported us to his house and nearly lost it like I did when she saw what I said was true. She wasted no time and started a tracking spell. Normally ponies would wave at us in greeting whenever we would walk through town but we got none today, they could feel the anger radiating off us. We had some trouble as the pony had used the roof tops to travel round town. The spell led us to the edge of the Everfree forest, a place I had not entered since the end of the war, not even to see the old castle located inside that I once called home. Twilight was so focused on the spell she didn't watch where she was going and crashed into one of our mutual friends. Pinkie got up and shook her head with a smile on her face like nothing happened. "Hi Twilight, Hi Luna."

"Now is not the time Pinkie." I sighed, at least I could pretend like nothing was wrong and hide my anger. She continued on while Pinkie and I followed, "Aw, come on Twilight, turn that frown upside down. Oh I know what will cheer you up, how about I introduce you to some new ponies? There are two new ponies in town, one of them is a pegasus and the other is a unicorn, plus they both seem like nice stallions." She said with a wink. Twilight sighed and I had to stifle my laughs. "Pinkie, I'm not ready to start dating again." Pinkie shook her head with a frown, "Twilight, you and broad sword broke up two and a half years ago, you need to get back out there." To be honest the term broke up isn't true, drifted apart would be a better term. In fact the two of them would probably still be together if it weren't for their occupations. Her a princess, him a guard captain, both of them had very little time to themselves let alone time for a lasting relationship. How Cadence and Shinning Armor made it work I'll never know. "Later Pinkie, we're busy."

"Come on Twilight, they're just on the other side of the bushes." She parted the bushes for a second giving us a glimpse at the two ponies in question before letting the bushes return to the usual positions once again blocking the two ponies. "No Pinkie, this is important. Now, either help us or get out of the way." I frowned, "Twilight calm yourself. Confronting this pony angry will only make the situation worse. Now sit down and take some deep breaths." As Twilight calmed herself I filled Pinkie in on what had happened. She was handling the situation better than Twilight but was no less angry. Pinkie was shaking, not with her usual bubbly energy but with rage. With Twilight finally managing her anger we set off again. Our destination was a familiar clearing that only added to the sadness I had been feeling the past few days. Sitting under what was once Steel's first home was an odd assortment of beings. There were the two ponies Pinkie had been following, as she said one was a unicorn and the other a pegasus. Among them was a dragon and a figure hidden by the shadows of the setting sun, their outline barely illuminated by the fire that roared in the center of their group. I found my attention drawn to the dragon and the mysterious figure. The dragon was unlike any I had seen before. It was purple with a gold underbelly and wing membranes with matching gold horns and spine spikes (Not sure what they are called). Nothing was unusual about the color of his body, though the two colors go well with each other, his body however is another story. All dragon types I know stand on two legs during the foalhood and teen years and grow their wings later in life. He, or at least I think it's a he, was the size of Applejack's brother Big Macintosh, had fully formed wings, and walked on four legs. His for suggests that he's a full adult but his size suggests otherwise, and then there's his aura. The sight of a dragon would normally fill a pony with fear because of how they carry themselves but looking at him I got a feeling of strength, determination, and safety just like the guards. I still couldn't get a good look at the figure in the shadows but if I had to guess he was around my height maybe a little taller. I also saw the light of the fire reflect off something a little, perhaps armor of some kind. I shifted my focus back to the dragon when he got up and started pacing. "What's taking her so long…?"

"Relax Spyro, Cynder will get her when she gets here." A shadow passed over the three of us and another dragon landed in the clearing. I looked much like the dragon already in the clearing and was black with a magenta underbelly and wing membranes and what looked like a blade surgically attached to the end of her tail. Its body was slimmer than the other one, most likely a female, and probably who they were waiting for. "Good your back, now we can begin." She walked over and lay down next to the other dragon. "Twilight," I whispered, "Which one of them broke into Steel's house?" She pointed, "Him, in the shadows." I moved trying to get a better look at him but stepped on a twig. Instantly their heads turned in my direction and I heard a sword being drawn. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor we headed back to Ponyville content to approach the individual another time.

* * *

POV change: Steel

After a few moments I sheathed my sword and sat back down. If they were hostile they would have attacked already and a quick spell showed nopony in our immediate area, it was probably just an animal. "It's nothing, Spyro, your report?"

"Nothing looked out of place other than the ex-ruins. Someone has completely restored the old castle, lucky for us if the guards are any indication the princesses did it." I nodded, I had hoped to use the ruins as a base of operations but it's not a major setback. "I take it you didn't find the doctor, Anderson." He shook his head, "No I found him we're set to meet him at noon tomorrow in the park." Eh, I guess that's okay, I had wanted to meet him today "What about you Johnson, anything to add?" He grunted and lit up another Sweet Williams, "No, but I did manage to get a job. It's only a trial run but at the least we'll get paid for a week, could be more if everything goes well." I turned to the last member of the squad, "Cynder?"

"Most of what I heard was unimportant but I did hear about an upcoming wedding. All four princesses will be in attendance, it presents a chance to deal a major blow to Equestira's leadership. They wouldn't be expecting an attack and would be easy targets."

"Not with us here, none of them are going to die while we still breathe. How long do we have?" She shrugged, "The wedding is in three days, the doctor might have the exact time of the wedding."

"Excellent, if we're lucky this can all be over in a month or so." Johnson grunted and mumbled something about not being that lucky. "Here's the plan tomorrow we meet with the doctor. After that well set up a more permeant camp in a better location. Then well stowaway on a train heading for Canterlot and find a way into this wedding. If Shade does make a move at the wedding we need to take whoever's lead the attack in alive." Glancing at the clock on my HUD I saw that it was approaching eleven. "It's late, get some rest. We can work out the details tomorrow. And don't set up the tents unless you want to pack them again in the morning."


	3. The Lay of the Land

Chapter 3: The Lay of the Land

 **Everfree Forest clearing  
Local time: 0730, sunrise  
One day since return**

As usual I was the first one to wake up, I don't sleep too well anymore. Not surprising considering everything I've done in my life. The others would be up soon but this gives me some time to think. I don't think I've had a pleasant dream since I left Equestria, my dreams are either plagued by the good people I sent to their deaths (sometimes again) or Luna and everything we never got to do I just don't dream at all. Luna could probably help me with my nightmares but I can't reveal myself to her it's the only rule we have, so I'm doomed to be plagued by these nightmares until my death. Looking back, so much of my life has been filled with death I wonder if I can ever truly escape it. My thoughts were interrupted sometime later when the others began to wake up. Looking around I smiled as I saw where everyone slept. I slept in the shadow of the tree that held my first home while Anderson slept by the river and Johnson slept in a tree on the edge of the clearing. Spyro and Cynder had slept next to each other near the embers of last night's fire but not side by side, that actually hurt to look at. Even before I knew they were real and had meet them personally I always thought they would end up as a couple. But despite Cynder's confession just before they 'left' the Dragon Realms they were still just friends. He never head what was supposed to be her dying confession of her love for him as the world broke apart around them and she had never worked up the courage to tell him again. There had been a few time when it looked like she was going to tell him but she never did, despite my best effort to play matchmaker. Though it is quite funny to watch Spyro act like a sputtering idiot when the subject of romance is brought up with her right next to him. Neither of them seem to have the courage to take the next step, despite their obvious feelings for each other which everyone can see except for them. Maybe if I could get them to talk to a certain alicorn of love I can get their relationship moving forward. While they began to make/ hunt their individual breakfasts I decided to head into town to check on the train schedule as I had already eaten before when the others were asleep. I arrived at the station with no problems and only had to use my active camo in short burst because most of the town was still asleep. After checking the schedule and finding that the last train to Canterlot left at nine thirty at night I made my way back to camp. I knew that we would either have to hide in one of the luggage cars or on the roof, I doubt that any sane pony would want to share a car with two dragons and somepony armed with a katana, and that was assuming we could afford tickets or that they would even be sold to us, after all I don't know if dragons are allowed on trains and I doubt they would let me keep my blade. I was humming to myself on the way back to camp though I had to keep my active camo on the entire trip because some of the residents of Ponyville were starting to make their way outside to start the day. When I neared the path that lead towards the clearing I saw Pinkie Pie bouncing down the path in the same direction just a little bit ahead of me. I just ignored her for the most part, after all nopony can explain Pinkie. Eventually we ended up walking next to each other not that she knew that I was there, or maybe she did. A few times I thought I saw her glancing in my direction and Spark informed me that the active camo unit was working at one hundred percent. That being said Pinkie does have her Pinkie sense.

After walking for a while we arrived at the clearing, "Hi everypony!" The others jumped at the sound of her voice and looked confused when they spotted her, probably wondering why she was here though _I_ did have a pretty good idea. "My names Pinkie Pie and I'm friends with everypony in Ponyville. I saw you two in town yesterday, usually I throw any new ponies in town a welcome party on the same day but the mayor said that nopony had bought a house recently so I had to follow you. Then the two of you came here and I saw your friends and I thought 'Wouldn't it be great if I threw a party for five friends at the same time, then it could be a mega party.' SO what do you say, do you want to come to my super awesome welcome to Ponyville mega party?" Ah, the jaw dropping rapid fire speech of Pinkie Pie… I think I actually missed it, weird. The others were understandably concerned that she had been watching us yesterday and I don't blame them, I'm just lucky that I decided to keep my helmet on though I know Pinkie would have kept my secret. Seeing that she was waiting for an answer Spyro said the only thing he could, "…uh, okay…" Pinkie practically exploded at that and as she listed everything the party had I walked over to them and whispered to Cynder. "Go enjoy the party, this might be the last chance you get to relax." As Pinkie finished talking, she turned back towards us. "Are you guys ready to go to your party?"

"Uh, like right now?" She nodded and Cynder stepped forward, "Well we want to but we have a meeting we have to go is there any way to reschedule for later like two in the afternoon." Pinkie seamed to deflate for a second before she bounced back like she always does. "Sure, we wouldn't want to through a party without the guests of honor." She turned to leave before stopping, "Wait a minute… one, two, three, four… where's your big friend?" No one really had an answer, Cynder just rolled her eyes. "He's busy right now."

"Oh, okay but he'll be at the party right?" The others looked among themselves, Cynder once again taking charge of the conversation. "I'm sorry Pinkie, he's not really a party pony." Pinkie got visibly sad at that and Spyro stepped in, "How about we save him some cake for later?" And there's the bounce back, "Alright, even if he doesn't like parties he can still have some fun. I'll see you later new friends, the party will be at Sugercube Corner." With that she left the clearing and I stepped out of the shadows. "Don't worry you get used to her." They all mumbled something along the lines of 'how'. Since we still had time before our meeting with the doctor and now that we had a party to attend later we went to go search for a better base of operations. After about an hour we found a cave near a clearing in Whitetail Woods so we started moving all of the crates into the cave before covering the entrance with a camouflage tarp. Once the crates were secure we started pitching our tents, naturally Spyro set his tent up right next to Cynders. Once the tents were pitched and our personal items moved in we went to the nearby river for a quick bath. With ourselves no longer smelling like we spent the morning moving crates we headed into town for our meeting with the doctor. We found him sitting on one of the grassy hills throughout the park. Looking at him I realized my the name sounded familiar I think Derpy mentioned him once or twice, I think she had a crush on him. "You're the doctor?" He nodded and motioned for us to sit. "Alright is this all of you?" I nodded, "Okay, I'm not sure how much you've been told about our problem so I'll start at the beginning. Last year the creatures in the Everfree forest started to get more violent, at first we thought it was because Princess Twilight ordered the Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sister restored and they were angry at losing their territory. But the problem persisted and the creatures started wondering into town and the surrounding countryside. Nopony has been killed but there have been injuries. Every time the guards have been able to either chase the creature responsible back into the Everyfree or kill it. The guards have put permeant patrols on the perimeter of the forest so nothing comes out of it. But it has done little to stop the problem just contain it to the forest. Last week Zecora, a zebra who had lived in the forest for years, brought all her stuff to Ponyville claiming that the forest has gotten too dangerous for even her. Princess Twilight has given her a room in the renovated castle so she can stay near the ingredients she needs for her brew. This is where you guys come in, the guards can't do anything about what's causing the animals of the Everfree to act this way, they're stretched thin as it is with the patrols. You need to find out what's causing this and stop it or do whatever you can, if you can at least find out what the cause is maybe the princesses can help."

"Alright, well get on it as soon as we can." He sighed in relief, "Thanks, this means a lot to us. I'm just glad you're doing this for free, we'd never be able to afford you help otherwise." I frowned on the inside, I had hoped to get some bits for this. "That being said I want you to have this as a token of my appreciation. It's an invitation for the wedding in Canterlot tomorrow." I took the ticket, "A wedding huh, I take it that it's for someone important." He looked at me confused, "Forgive me, we've been out of contact with the world for a while. Is there anything we should know about?" The doctor then proceeded to tell us about the important things in the world, Equestria and Ponyville. In world news, Relations between Equestria and the Gryphon Empire were deteriorating, rumors that Saddle Arabia was experiencing as severe drought, and unconfirmed reports that civil war had broken out between the various nomadic zebra tribes, but since they are nomadic it is hard to find them for conformation. In Equestria not much had changed since I left. The ruins in the Everfree had been restored by Twilight as one of her first decisions as princess and there were rumors that part of it was made into a memorial but the doctor wasn't sure since he had never visited, it is open to the public as a museum for a fee but since it's in the Everfree most ponies are too afraid to visit. Twilight became an alicorn and was crowned the Princess of Friendship plus she had her own guards. Twilight also got her own castle, which I saw before but couldn't identify, I was disheartened to hear that the Golden Oaks Library had been destroyed. The most alarming news, however, was about Cadenced. Four months ago she was involved in a major train accident, the tracks had been covered in ice and the train derailed. She survived but was in the hospital for over three months, other ponies weren't so lucky. Twenty had died in the wreck including Cadence's only son who was four. She was being released today so she could attend the wedding tomorrow. No official date was given for her son's funeral though many ponies speculate that she had a privet service with just close friends and family. The biggest change though, not to say what happened to Cadence wasn't horrible, heartbreaking, or important, was that the Elements of Harmony had been returned to something called the Tree of Harmony. Also apparently news of the wedding had spread to all corners of the globe.

Personally I found it quite shocking that despite having a princess living in Ponyville the town itself had changed very little. The Golden Oaks Library had been replaced, unfortunately it was just an ordinary building instead of a tree. A few more ponies moved to town and they needed houses but all of the buildings I remember were still around. I was glad to hear that the school had been expanded, I had never thought about what would happen to the CMC when their class graduated. That was all the major things, the doctor said anything else we would eventually learn about when it became relevant. We bid the doctor goodbye and he left leaving us to decide who to send to the wedding. To be honest I didn't really need to ask. Spyro and Cynder couldn't go for obvious reasons plus even if nopony freaked out that there was a dragon at the wedding it would still draw too much attention. That left me, Johnson, and Anderson, it was decide that Johnson and Anderson didn't know enough about Equestria to act like normal ponies and would probably make fools of themselves which would draw too much attention. I didn't think it was a good idea for me to go given my size but they pointed out that the doctor mentioned that the world knew about the wedding so some non-ponies were probably going to attend. I had decide to wear my armor to the wedding under the cloak Cynder had 'acquired' modified of course for my size and colored white to fit in. After things regarding the wedding tomorrow we taken care of the others went to their party and I went back to camp to pack our bags for the trip.

* * *

POV change: Spyro

We arrived at Sugercube Corner ten minutes after we were supposed to, something Johnson and Anderson called being fashionably late. I was worried about how the ponies would treat me and Cynder more for he than me. After I saved her from the dark master most people in our universe still treated her like the enemy and I know it hurt her, even if she didn't show it. It's been a long time since then and time has healed that wound for the most part but I know she is still nervous about how others think of her. Johnson and Anderson went in first, they would explain what we are and hopefully keep the panic to a minimum. At first the ponies were weary of us but as the party progressed they trusted us enough that they weren't constantly looking over their shoulders. I was surprised to see Princess Luna at the party, I was glad Steel didn't come I don't know how he would have handled seeing her again. It did look like she was stressed out, she probably needed this party more than us. The party was okay, then again I've never been to a lot of parties. Back in the Dragon Realms I had birthday parties every year when I lived in the dragonfly village but they were never this big and I've never been to a party since my last one before I began my journey. I didn't really know what to do so I spent most of my time with Cynder or the others. Eventually I ended up talking with Anderson by a table with a bowl of something called punch, it was quite good. "So how does it feel to fly without a machine?"

"It's like nothing I've ever felt before. That being said, I'd rather be the captain of a ship it's where I belong." I nodded, "You enjoying the party?" He smiled, "One of the best I've been to, especially in my later years. By then the only parties I went to were formal events filled with people whose egos were bigger than the citadel." I laughed at that, I always thought Cyril was full of himself but I only had to deal with him for the short time I knew him, who knows how many people like that Anderson had to deal with. I felt somepony wrap the leg around my neck, "So are you guys enjoying the party?" Anderson smiled and I shrugged, "I haven't been to a party in a long time and never one this big, to be honest I'm not really sure what to do." Minutes later I would realize that was the wrong thing to say. For the rest of the party Pinkie dragged me around and had me play the various party games, introduced me to various ponies, and had me try what seemed to be every type of food. More than once I saw Johnson and Anderson snickering at my predicament, Cynder was out right laughing. Later on in the party when I had distanced myself from Pinkie I got the feeling of being watched. Turning I saw a filly across the room watching me, probably too scared to get close, so I waved at her. She shyly waved back and fled into the crowd. I thought about going to introduce myself but I didn't know what she really looked like just that she had a grey coat and some type of blue mane. So I forgot about it and enjoyed the rest of the party. When the party was over we made our way back to camp with the slice of cake we promised Pinkie we'd give to him. After he ate the cake we shouldered our packs and made our way to the train station. Getting on the train we hid in the rear most luggage compartment, which was empty due to the low amount of people on the train at this time of night. When we got to Canterlot we made our way over to the warehouses at the far side of the station where the cargo trains stopped and found one that was underused and settled in for the night.

 **Authors Note:** Sorry about the filler but it's needed for set up for things later on in the story.


	4. The Black Wedding

Chapter 4: The Black Wedding

 **Canterlot Castle  
Local time: 1500  
Two days since return**

The streets of Canterlot were filled with ponies, more so than normal. Many of them were invited to the wedding while others were hoping to find an extra seat, despite not knowing either bride. I almost spit in disgust, sure I had met people like this before but I never thought ponies would stoop so low as to crash a wedding just to improve their social status. I adjusted the hood of my cloak, I had lengthened it so it fit and changed the color to white. Even with the change in color it was still drawing attention. Approaching the hall the wedding was being held in I noticed most ponies were still waiting outside. The guards focused on me as I approached, showing them the invitation the doctor gave me I was ushered inside. Apparently I had a VIP invitation reserved for close friends and family which let me get in before the general populace. Since there was still some time before the wedding I decided to look around the hall. It had the standard decorations any wedding would but what drew my attention was the stained-glass windows. This was the same hall that all of Equestria's important history was forever remember by these glass windows. Looking around I saw some events I recognized and some I didn't but the one that drew my attention had flowers around the outside and was generally more decorated that the rest of the windows. The reason way was because it was mine, it was a window that showed Luna defeating Shadow Steel while I watched from above. Moving away from the window I took a seat on the center aisle close to the front but not close enough to draw too much attention. Looking around I saw many ponies I recognized, the Elements of Harmony were bridesmaids while the pony who was best mare/ stallion was surprisingly absent. Broadsword and Silent Flight were also… well I don't know what the correct term is but they're the groom's equivalent of bridesmaids. I could see Vinyl already on the alter talking to Celestia, not sure prizing that she's the one taking the spot of the groom. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was Vinyl and Octavia getting married and I had to crash their wedding, then again I would probably have been invited had I been 'alive'. I could hear the clop of hooves on the marble floor coming behind me, taking a quick look I saw Shinning Armor and Cadence had arrived. Despite being released from the hospital Cadence was clearly not fully recovered as Shinning was practically attached to her hip. It took all of my will power not to stare. Gone was the happy alicorn of love I remember. Her body had visible scars, the most noticeable was the one that ran over her left eye but it looked like the eye survived, and her right wing had lost most of its feathers. Even from a glance I could tell that her personality had changed too, I don't know if it was shock but I could tell by the look in her eye that she had little care for the world around her.

Luna had not yet arrived by the time that the rest of the ponies were allowed in. As the remaining seats were filled I could pick out a few faces I recognized from the crowd. Swift Wing and his family, Lyra Heartstring and Bon Bon, the doctor, Derpy, and Dinky finally arriving… the list goes on, many I had only seen in passing but some of them I had known quite well. This was also the point where the others entered the building. Their active camo units already on, Spyro and Cynder perched themselves up in the rafters and Johnson was positioned near the door using an illusion to make him look like one of the guards. Anderson was positioned outside and was watching the door. With the others in position I had Spark pull up their feds on my visor leaving with us nothing to do but watch and pray. Surprisingly the wedding was about to start and there was still no sign of Luna… was she not coming? "Excuse us sir." Turning slightly I saw Luna standing next to me. I moved into the aisle allowing Luna to pass followed by something, or should I say somepony, I never expected. It was this little alicorn filly with a grey coat and cobalt mane that had a silver streak in it who could be no older than eight. The sight of that filly was like a knife in my heart, she looked too much like Luna to not be her daughter. I never expected Luna to stay single for the rest of her extremely long, possibly unending, life but I never thought that I would to see her move on and make a family of her own. Luna sat to the right putting the filly between the two of us which did not help the pain in my heart. I was on high alert for the begging of the wedding but the only thing out of place was a slight draft that made the banner at the end of the row shift slightly every now and then. By the time we had reached the vows I had allowed myself to relax, I had seen nothing out of the ordinary and neither had the others. I was starting to think that we were wrong at that there would be no attack. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the banner shift again… in the wrong direction. "Spark, has the wind shifted?"

"No, the draft has not changed and no one has touched that banner." I started to tense up, "Eyes up everyone, possible infiltrators switch to thermal imaging." I watched as they switched their visors and they lit up like Christmas trees. "Hostiles confirmed. Spark, how many are there?" She took a few seconds, "Unknown, I cannot calculate how many there are. There could be more of them outside and some hidden among the attendees. But for the ones we can see there are seventy five." I had not anticipated this many, I had expected a small strike team unless Shade knows we're here… no he would have tried to remove us already if he knew. I saw the one in the lead ready a crossbow. "Wait for my signal to engage. Spark calculate how long until he fires and when I have to jump in front of the bolt." The assassin took aim, "Jump in five seconds." A countdown appeared on my HUD and just before I jumped I heard Celestia address the crowd. "If anypony has a reason that these two should not be wed please speak now or forever hold your peace." I jumped into the aisle just as the bolt was fired but it had more of a punch than I expected and I was sent tumbling, landing just in front of the alter with the bolt visibly sticking out of my shoulder. Luckily my armor had stopped the bolt from harming me. By now most ponies were staring to panic and a dark, familiar chuckle filled the room. "A valiant effort my foolish friend but alas in the end completely useless." Everypony gasped, I would have too if I wasn't playing dead, as Shadow Steel appeared just a few feet away from my 'body'. He was holding an empty crossbow with his swords strapped to his sides. "It's so nice to see everypony again. Did you miss me Luna? Because I know I missed your sister, something I'm about to fix." While he was talking her reloaded his crossbow and that sentence made his intention pretty clear. Luna stood and growled, the filly hiding behind her. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" No seriously I think she growled. "Guards, seize him!"

"Keep them back, the princesses are mine." His forces materialized next to him, most dropped their invisibility spells but others flew in from the windows and some members of the crowd drew weapons. Most were shadow ponies but the ones that hid in the crowd looked like mercenaries and they all out numbered the guards five to one. As his forces engaged the guards he laughed and fried at Celestia again, who was still in shock. And he would have hit her if I hadn't cut the bolt in half with my sword. He stopped laughing and everypony turned to look at me as I pulled the bolt from my shoulder. "I must say that this is a surprise, I thought you were dead. No matter I'll just have to put you back in the ground." He growled and looked to a group of his forces on his left. "Kill him and make sure he suffers… on second thought, keep him alive until I've killed the princesses." He dropped the crossbow and drew his swords advancing towards the princesses who had gathered on the alter with the brides while the group on his right engaged the guards protecting the princesses and the group on his left surrounded me. Readying my sword I also prepared the flamethrower spell. Lighting the floor in front of me on fire in a crescent shape I turned just in time to block a sword that would have removed my horn. Three blots lodge themselves in my side, also stopped by armor, and I had Spark mark the locations of the archers. Blocking another strike I dodge to the left letting an axe pass by me and into a shadow pony standing behind me. I sliced the neck of the axe wielder and rolled to the side dodging another volley of crossbow bolts before doing a back flip to dodge two swords. Lashing out I removed the head of another shadow pony and stabbed one of them behind me. I jumped and dodged a spear that would have implied me and preformed a helm splitter on the mercenary in front of me, his head exploded like a ripe watermelon… it was disgusting. Dodging the spear again I jumped into the air I charged my horn and formed a ring of ground spikes around me when I landed killing even more enemies. Taking to the air I quickly took out the three crossbow wielding ponies who had no defense other than their crossbows. Tuning back to the room I saw how the guards inside had been overwhelmed and killed or pushed back to the door where the shadow ponies had formed a bottle neck keeping relief forces from arriving. Seeing that I had bought myself a little time I contacted the others. "Johnson, Anderson, where are you?"

"I was pushed outside, me and Anderson are trying to organize the guards." Dodging a strike from a mercenary who noticed me I quickly ended the fight. "Spyro, where are you and Cynder?"

"We're pick off the guys at the back as best we can without being noticed." Advancing to the alter I cut down three mercenaries who didn't notice me approach. "Spyro, drop your camo and get into the fight. Cynder, back off. If Shadow tried to escape I want you to stop him." As I locked blades with a shadow unicorn spikes of ice rain down from the sky as Spyro truly enters the fight. With the guards, now organized under Johnson and Anderson, pushing back into the room and Spyro drawing more forces to them my path to the alter was clear. Killing my foe I turned towards the alter, all the guards that were with the princesses were dead except for one who appeared to be the captain of the fade. He was single handedly holding back five shadow ponies and a mercenary while Luna fought Shadow. Luna was covered in multiple cuts and looked tired while Shadow still had the same confident look he had when the fighting started. Slowly creeping up behind him I saw him disarm Luna right before I shoved my sword between his shoulder blades and threw him over my shoulder.

* * *

POV change: Luna

I was still in shock that Shadow was still alive considering how much was lost just to kill him last time, Steel included. He and a group of no less than four dozen approached us. Our guards formed a wall in front of us led by Captain Wolf of the fade. I couldn't see Shinning Armor but I hoped him and Silver were alright as the rest of Shadows forces pushed everypony else back to the doors. The battle was short but deadly and ended with most of the guards dead and the remaining few and Wolf forced off to the side. Shadow walk towards us with a smirk on his face. Looking around I saw a sword not that far away from me and I levitated it in front of myself, readying for battle. "What's this, do you really plan on fighting me alone Luna?" It looked like he wanted to laugh which made me more determined to kill him. "Sister, keep Cadence and Twilight safe. I'll deal with him." I knew my sister was not happy with my choice to fight him alone but she would not stop me knowing what he had done, what he had taken from me. Shadow chuckled and lazily swung his sword at me. I parried it and tried to cut off his head. He jumped back in surprise as my sword barely nicked him under his left eye. Putting a hoof to the cut he pulled it away and saw his blood. He snarled, "So you've been learning how to fight huh?" I came at him again with two slashes and then a parry. "I would call it relearning. I was one of the best sword masters just before my exile." Shadow smirked, "Then let's see how much you remember." He came at me slow at first and I dodged or deflected all his blows. Then I went after him, I got close a few times but my blade never actually touched him. Knocking my blade aside he came at me even faster. We traded blows like this for what felt like years but was only a few minutes. He sliced me many times but never left more than a shallow cut, he was just toying with me. After a few minutes it looked like he finally got bored. He yawned, "I think it's time we finish this don't you?" He caught my blade with both of his and pulled it from my grasp, sending it cluttering to the floor near the wall to my right. He smirked for all of three seconds before a sword was plunged between his shoulders and he was tossed away from us. The pony who had saved Tia's life from Shadows' crossbow bolts now stood in front of us. "Are you alright?" I looked at the others, Tia and Twilight nodded but Cadence still looked indifferent and maybe even a little disappointed, we _need_ to get her counselling. "We're fine, thank you." Suddenly he was rammed from the side and rolled across the floor before stopping pinned by his attacker, Shadow, who loomed over him with the hole in his chest closing rapidly. "All of that planning ruined. I might not be able to kill the princess but I will kill you." Shadow tried to impale the pony but they rolled to the side throwing Shadow off balance. The blade missed the pony but caught his cloak so that when they continued to roll away from Shadow the cloak ripped and was left on the floor. As they stood we got our first good look at our savior. He was definitely a stallion and was covered head to hoof in armor I did not recognize plus he had a horn sticking out of his forehead… and wings on his back. This was surprising for all of us since there were no know living male alicorns. The stallion readied his sword and walked towards Shadow who could not remove his one sword form the ground and abandoned it. "You can try but I will not be the one to die today."

"You think you can kill me, you're more of a fool than I expected." The locked blades but it was clear the stallion was more proficient in single blade combat and Shadow relied on using two blades too much. It didn't take long before Shadow was thrown away from the stallion losing his sword in the process. Shadow scrambled to his hooves as the stallion started to advance on him. Shadow pulled out his crossbow forcing the stallion to stop moving lest he give Shadow a clear shot at one of us. I saw Shadow starting to get nervous, the dragon from Ponyville was helping the guards finish off his forces and would be upon him soon. Wolf had dealt with the others on this side of the room and was shuffling his way over to us. Shadow continued to look around before he smirked, "Even if I die I'm taking one member of the royal family with me!" He pointed the crossbow to his right and fired before taking to the air and making a break for a window. It took me mere seconds to find his target, "Silver!"

* * *

POV change: Steel

I was confused at first, all of the members of the royal family were behind me. "Silver!" Turning my head I noticed the filly from before cowering next to a pillar, hiding herself from the bigger fight. Time seamed to slow as I tried to move myself in front of the bolt or at least get close enough to hit it with my sword but I was too slow. Luckily I wasn't the only one whose attention was drawn by Luna's shout. Seconds before the bolt would have hit the filly a purple blur flew in front of her and a glowing green wall formed around her. Nodding my head in thanks to Spyro I turned around just in time to see Shadow crash into the ground held down by an invisible force. He struggled, "What magic is this?" As Cynder snapped into existence she held her tail blade against his throat. "Stop struggling or I'll kill you… slowly." She drove her point home by giving him a deep cut on his right cheek. Dragging Shadow to a corner I decided to do a quick interrogation. "Where is Shade?" He just spat in my face… I cut his leg for that. "You have two options, you can either tell me or I can keep giving you these paper cuts until you die. So, where is Shade?" He still didn't talk. After about a dozen cuts I realized he wasn't going to talk. "Fine, I guess you're not ready to talk. I'll give you to the princesses for now but if you don't talk to them I _will_ lose Cynder on you. And trust me, one way or another she will get what I want." I made to turn around before doing a one eighty and taking his horn off. "That's to make sure you don't escape, can't teleport away without a horn can you?" Tuning to the princesses, "He's all yours." Turning back around, I was met with a knife to the throat curtesy of Shadow. On reflex I drove my blade through his throat. Luckily his blade didn't get past my armor but it did damage my voice distorter so what I whispered next came out in my normal voice. "This time stay dead." This caused his eyes to widen in his last few moments of life. I was lucky that I stabbed him in the throat otherwise he might have said my name or something about me being dead. Sheathing my sword I walked over to the princesses, the brides, and the Elements of Harmony who had rejoined them. I saw the filly now known as Silver thanking Spyro for saving her and following him as he joined us. As I stood in front of them Spark gave me a text message on my HUD that the voice distorter had been restored to one hundred percent functionality. "It's good to see that none of you were hurt. I'm sorry about the wedding and that you had to see all that unpleasantness because of these uninvited guests." Vinyl just waved it off. "It could have been worse if it wasn't for you guys. But we should get out of here just in case there are any of them still around." The others agreed and we walked into the castle proper. On the way out I saw Johnson and Anderson helping check for wounded and gathering the dead.

As soon as we were secure in the throne room Pinkie was in my face talking at a speed I couldn't follow. Luckily Spark could keep up with her and gave me the short version, Pinkie wanted throw a 'thanks for saving us' party. It wasn't long before Pinkie had set everything up and guests were already arriving. The party was pretty much the same as everyother party she's thrown except that a lot more ponies showed up including some of the upper class ponies like Fancypants and Flur De Lee. I mostly stayed by the food eating through the helmet which apparently has a retractable portion designed specifically so somepony can eat without taking it off. I did let the others talk me into one dance though Cynder was extremely embarrassed and annoyed when it turned out to be a slow song and I dragged her with me, we all got a good laugh at that. I did notice that during the party Silver had stayed close to me but never approached me. It wasn't until later when she was with Luna that she finally talked to me. "Hi mister, I just wanted to thank you for helping save me and my mom." Luna nodded her thanks, "I'm Silver Lining, what's your name?"

"You can call me Revenant." She looked confused, "Revnat, that sounds weird, is that really your name?" I laughed a little, "No but I only tell my friends my real name. I wouldn't call us friends yet but maybe one day." She smiled, "Really? If we're going to be friends then you should probably know more about me. Let's see, I'm seven almost eight, Princess Luna is my mom, uh… I'm related to the other princesses and the Elements of Harmony are close enough to be my family…" She bounced around me as she spoke. While she was thinking about another thing to talk about I decided to ask my own question, one I had been thinking about but at the same time didn't want to know the answer to. "If Princess Luna is your mother then who's your father." She stopped bouncing at that, "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay. I never knew my father he died before I was born but my mom tells me stories about him every now and then. She says he was a great stallion, so does everypony else. She says that he saw her in a way that nopony ever has and that he loved her more than anything." I nodded, "So what was his name?" Silver sighed, "Flamingsteel, his name was Flamingsteel and everypony called him Steel. He was an alicorn like us and died in the final battle of the Shadow War." I gasped at that but luckily Spark turned off my audio keeping it confined to the inside of my helmet. Spark addressed me on an internal speaker, "Steel, I know this is hard but we aren't allowed to reveal ourselves to anyone form our previous lives. That's the only rule." I never got the chance to say anything because Luna told Silver it was time to go to bed. The two of them left the party and I headed over to the drinks table and grabbed myself a hard cider. Finding an empty table I sat down and drank away my sorrow. I had just finished fourth bottle when somepony sat at the table with me. Looking up I saw Luna, "I didn't think you would be a big drinker but at least you waited until the fillies and colts left." I waved my bottle in her direction, "Yeah, plus this might be the last time for a long time I get to drink so I'm making the most of it." She nodded and we sat in silence for a while before she asked a question. "So why don't you tell people your real name? There must be a story behind that." I grunted, "Well everyone form my old life thinks I'm dead, so there's that. Plus it keeps my enemies from going after the ponies I left behind. The only people who actually know who I am and who I was are in this room."

"I get the feeling you don't like to talk about this." I nodded and our conversation died out as I opened bottle number five. Not long after I finished the bottle did Celestia come over and tell me that my team and I were welcome to spend the night at the castle. Taking her up on the offer I told my team we would be staying here and left the party as it was winding down. Getting directions from the guards I eventually made my way to the room and got into bed. Thoughts about Sliver running through my head until I fell asleep.

 **Authors Note:** Well I'm back, the old story might be dead but it will live on through this one. Now I know I told some of you guys through PM's that I had hoped to have something soon and I had every intention of doing so. But the loss of my data, overall laziness, and a lack of desire to write kept me from doing so. Anyway with the posting of this I hope to restart this story and am hoping to get the next chapter out before New Year's. That being said I make no absolute promise that there will be a new chapter by then. I also have news, I plan on making another story. I won't start this story until around chapter ten or so, I will talk about it more after all of the main character have been introduced in this story. These character will also be in this story as the story I have planned takes place before Following Darkness, Steel will not be in it. I will try to write the stories congruently. That means that when I reach certain parts of Following Darkness I will stop writing for it and focus on the other story and vice versa. This should give me time to plan out where I want to take Following Darkness and improve overall chapter quality. If it turns out to be too much work I will put the other story on hold and complete Following Darkness first. With that have a merry Christmas and I hope you look forward to the next chapter which will hopefully be out soon.


	5. Well It's a Start

Chapter 5: Well… It's a Start

 **Authors Note:** I want to apologize if this isn't up to the standard of my previous work, this is the first new chapter I've made in over a year so I'm a little rusty.

 **Canterlot Castle  
Local time: 0850  
Three days since return**

"She's your WHAT?" I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I gathered the team in my room this morning to talk about yesterday and what I had learned about Silver. But I had not expected them to react this strongly. I mean I know that Silver being my daughter is a big surprise but it's not like this is the first world shattering secret we've learned… plus it's not really a secret, we just didn't know. "Can you run that by us again?"

"Uh, Silver is my daughter born about nine months after I died that I didn't know about until yesterday. I don't understand why this is so hard to understand, I mean it's not like something like this hasn't happened before." They looked at me like I had told them I was joining the dark side. "So this has happened before?" I sighed again, "I didn't mean it like that. Silver is my only child. I was referring to all the times, in stories and in real life, where you hear someone has a kid they didn't know about." They looked at each other, "Okay let's just ignore it and more on. Since we didn't get a new lead at the wedding I suggest we proceed by completing that task we're technically supposed to do." Johnson, Anderson, and Spyro looked confused while Cynder nodded. "I agree, even if we can't find anything linked to Shade we can at least make this world a little safer." Seeing that the others were still confused she rolled her eyes. "Men… you can't be trusted to remember anything can you?" They all huffed in annoyance, I don't blame them… after all I did remember, she shouldn't group me with them. "Our cover is that we're mercenaries hired to find the reason why the creatures of the Everfree Forest have become more aggressive and remove the problem if possible."

"Correct Cynder, now I think the best way to do this is to break off into pairs and search the various parts of the forest. If we can find the source of the problem we'll regroup and head there as a team. Spyro, Cynder you'll be one group, Johnson and Anderson the other. I'll be going solo, even the forest denizens should know how powerful alicorns are. I think the best place to start is the area around the former ruins, even if the source isn't there we might be able to pick up a partial map of the forest." Before we could continue planning somepony knocked on the door. Anderson, being the closest to the door, went to go see who it was. We sat in silence and Johnson lit up a cigar, moments later Anderson returned followed by Luna. I was the first to great her, "Good morning princess." She smiled, "Good morning, I was starting to think that you had already left. I guess it was just bad luck that I came to this room last. I wanted to know if you wished to join us for breakfast before you departed." Looking at the others they all shrugged, "Sure we can join you. We're not on a timetable. Though we would like some time to freshen up first." She nodded and left as I dismissed the team. Sighing in relief as I stepped into the shower I began to clean myself. The thing about my showers I like them hot and I mean like ridiculously hot, make your skin turn red hot. I never realized how much I took things, like my hot showers, for granted but that was before all this began. Spending extended amounts of time in places like Skyrim put things like that in perspective. Stepping out of the shower I quickly dried myself off. Turning to my armor I ran a rag under some water and gave it a wipe down, both the outside and inside. I planned on giving it a more thorough cleaning later when I had more time and a polish to make the dings it got during the wedding less noticeable but for now a least the inside doesn't smell. Putting it on Spark informed me that all systems were green. I was the last to arrive at the dinning not surprising there is a lot of surface area on my armor. Taking the empty seat next to Cynder I looked at the others around the table. There were the ponies I expected, Celestia, Luna, the Elements- _Former_ Elements of Harmony, Vinyl, and Octavia to name a few, and a few I didn't expect. This included the Gryphon ambassador along with his wife and his daughter, I remember them fondly but I can't seem to remember their names, other foreign dignitaries and surprisingly Silver. I know for the uninformed this may seem strange since the palace is her house but this breakfast, for the most part, was full of stuffy upper class individuals. No mother I know would force their daughter to sit through such a boring thing at this age and I know Luna would never force Silver to do so. For the most part I stayed quiet and let the others do the talking. It wasn't until the meal started to wind down that I got into a real conversation, "So Revenant how did you get invited to the wedding?"

"It was actually pure coincidence. My team was in Ponyville on business and one of its residents was generous enough to give us a ticket for the work we're going to do." This got a few others curious. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your business in Ponyville?" I took another bite of my eggs, I have to say these are some of the best eggs I've ever had. I don't remember them being this good I wonder if they hired another chief or is my memory going bad after all this time… "I'm not sure if I should say…" Seeing the looks they were giving me I quickly explained. "It's nothing illegal I assure you, I'm just not sure if they want their problems to be public knowledge." By now the entire table was interested in our discussion, I guess right now I'm the latest and greatest thing to gossip about. "Do not worry as princess of Equestria I can assure you I know of everything that happens in my kingdom there is nothing to hide." Oh Celestia, I just know this will come back to bite you, "Well if you insist. We've been hired to take care of a wildlife problem." I noticed the looks they were giving me, a highly trained group of individuals paid for a few little pests I would be skeptical too. I nodded, "Apparently some nearby predators have decided that their territory is too small and wish to expand into more populated areas. We either have to convince them to leave, scare them off somehow, or _take_ _care_ _of them_ some other way." While most of the people at the table bought my partial lie I could see the slight changes in Celestia's and Luna's posture. Clearly they had not been informed of this, if it was simply to the degree of the problem or if they were completely in the dark I do not know. Not long after everyone started to go their separate ways but Luna did tell me she wanted to talk to me and to meet her in her private study in an hour. While I waited for the time I was supposed to meet Luna, and I assume Celestia, I sent the others back to camp to make sure nothing had happened since we left. Walking into Luna's study I was unsurprised to find Celestia already there. A moment later Luna joined us, "You've probably already guessed why we wanted to talk to you, we were not informed of a problem large enough to warrant mercenaries to be hired. What type of predator problem are we dealing with exactly?"

"Timberwolves, manticores… the turht is we're not entirely sure what we'll find. All we know is that the denizens of the Everfree forest has become more aggressive than they already are and we're supposed to find the cause and remove it. However, I was told that guard patrols have been established around the perimeter of the forest as well as on the path leading to the former ruins. So if you didn't establish these patrols who did?" They shared a confused look, "What do you mean former ruins?" Now it was my turn to be confused, "Your old castle in the forest it's been restored. We first noticed it when I had Spyro do a flyover of the forest as preliminary recon, I was told it was turned into a museum. Did you not know?" They shook their heads, "Perhaps it is best if we accompany you to our old castle so that we may get to the bottom of this together." Luna agreed with her sister and who was I to argue with the princess of the sun. Not long after agreeing were we taking flight, they had decided to bring four pegusi guards with them, each. When we landed the squad was confused, "… uh, sir?"

"The princesses did not know about the castles restoration, they're coming with us to find out who did it and why." Deciding it was best to keep whoever was at the castle unaware we walked to the former ruins. Following the path we passed many guards who saluted the princesses as they past. Though as we walked I noticed that all of the guards were members of the fade giving me a good idea of who did the restoration. We reached the place without incident and simply walked through the front door. Asking a nearby guard for whoever was in charge eventually led us to Captain Wolf who then had us follow him to another part of the castle. This part was clearly not open to the public as we past guards out of uniform and clearly on break though most of them me sleeping, most likely from exhaustion, if the amount of guards we've past is the standard posting then most of them had to be pulling double shifts every day. The captain led us to a room with a large detailed door. Inside we found exactly who I was expecting. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna what are you doing here?" Behind the surprise I could hear the fear in her voice, it was hidden well but it was there. "Twilight what is this?" She sighed and rose from the table, which appeared to have a map of the surrounding area with multiple notes, and walked over to the window. "This was supposed to be a surprise for you. You old palace refurbished and repurposed so that everypony could learn about its history. *sigh* But things have not turned out the way I planned." Celestia walked over to her and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight while I am happy you decided to do this I am worried about what I've heard about the creatures of the Everfree. I would also like to know how you funded this without me knowing." Twilight nodded and sat back down and the table motioning for us to join her. "Well the funds were easy once I had figured out how to get them. I knew that it would take a long time for my proposal for this restoration to be approved, that is if it wasn't rejected for being too costly. So I decided to fund this privately. The mayor of Ponyville was more than happy to put aside a portion of the town's budget to help and I sent letters to many historians as well as other wealthy ponies with an interest in history about funding this. Eventually I was able to fund the reconstruction for the museum plus other parts of the castle I had not expected to fix for many years to come. As it is around eighty percent of the castle has been restored and the museum is ready to open. And if it wasn't for the problem with the wildlife it would be." She sighed again. "Twilight as proud as I am that you would take on such as task so that others can, I do not think that selling government land without approval will go over well with my advisors."

"Oh no we still own the land they just paid for the work." Seeing that Celestia was still confused, Twilight tried to explain to her what she had done and failed miserably. I couldn't keep myself from chuckling, "Oh and what's so funny, do you think you can explain it better?" I frowned, though no one could see it, Twilights never acted like this before but I think it's the stress. "Yes I can, crowdfunding. While the most common defection is not applicable in this situation it can be used as an analogy. Crowdfunding, is defined as funding something by raising small amount of money form vast amounts of ponies. While you didn't get funding from vast amounts of ponies but a few select ponies with large wallets I feel that the analogy is close enough that it can be understood." Twilight conceded to my point and Celestia asked about the creature of the forest again. Twilight got visibly nervous, "Well about halfway through the restoration we noticed that some manticores were hanging just past the perimeter the guards had set up. We paid them no mind and the first few time that we were attacked it was written off as them simply not happy we took their territory. But as time went on the attacks continued not stopped like I had theorized. They just kept coming in larger and larger groups but I was confident we could handle it. Then the timberwolves started to attack us too. We could still handle the situation but I increased the patrols just to be safe. Then for a while it stopped and I had thought they finally gave up but I was wrong. The next day a group of ponies was attacked as they walked into town if it wasn't for some passing guards… I shudder to think of what might have happened. There were two more attacks and I had my guards start to patrol the edge of the forest to prevent more attacks. Then the attacks started here again. My guards are more than capable of fighting off manticores and timberwolves but they're stretched thin trying to defend this place and guard the edge of the forest. I fear we might have to abandon this place if only to keep Ponyville safe."

"But Twilight why not tell us what was happening, we could have fixed this long ago." Twilights sighed, "Because this is my problem. I caused this, it's my job as a princess of Equestria to fix it." Celestia pulled her into a hug, "My old student, if there is one thing that I have learned in my many long years on the throne it's that you can't solve anything on your own. I understand that you feel responsible for this and that you want to fix this but you simply can't do it alone. We can help you and we will. I'll have a detachment of guards sent to relieve the ponies here, I think they have earned some well needed rest. In the mean time we will try to fix this." She nodded, crying tears of joy. "Thank you princess. But how did you know about what was going on?" Celestia turned to me. "The five of us have been hired by the mayor of Ponyville to put an end to your problem. I told Princess Celestia about what was happening. And don't worry, I have a feeling that none of this was your fault." They looked confused, though Luna was more curious than confused. "Think about it, unrelenting attacks? Even the stupidest of animals learns that touching fire burns you after the first time. Plus the attacks happened half way through the restoration, if it was territory they were angry about they would have attacked on day one. No, I feel this is an opening move in a game we can't see." They thought about what I had said and Spark practically yelled at me. "What are you doing we're not supposed to let them know about Shade. If he finds out then he'll stop hiding in the shadows and attack them directly. You know they won't survive that!"

"I know but if we make them think that this is a bigger problem than they think it is they will increase the defense of every city which will give us an advantage. Beside I don't ever plan on telling them who they're playing against, I'm simply using them as another piece on the board though it pains me to do so."

"What do you mean Revenant?" I stood up, "Don't you think that it's a little odd that this place is being attack and then there's an attack in Canterlot led by somepony everypony else thought was dead? It's too convenient. I think something bigger is going on and we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg. That being said we won't know more until we find out what is causing these attacks." They nodded in agreement and I saw Luna and Celestia share a look. "Princess Twilight do you have any maps of the surrounding area?" She nodded and levitated over some maps. "I had my guards map out the area in a three mile radius from the ruins. I'm afraid that if you want to go farther than that we won't have a map for you. Thought there might be some old maps in the library, we haven't restored that part of the palace yet. It won't be accurate but it should give you a rough estimate of the terrain." I nodded and was about to send Spyro and Cynder to go look when we heard shouting outside. Looking out the windows I saw the guards fighting mantiocres on one side timberwolves on the other. "We're under attack, let's go help those guards!"

* * *

POV change: Luna

Watching as the creatures were pushed back into the forest I heard my sister send Twilight to whatever room she was using for some rest. As the wounded were tended to my sister walked up next to me. "Do you think he's right Luna, is somepony causing this?"

"I do not know Tia, he does make a good point though. I know Shadow was dead, I killed him myself and yet he lead the attack at the wedding. Somepony brought him back somehow. Even if what is happening here is unrelated his resurrection needs to be looked into." She nodded, "I'll get our best investigators on it, but they'll do it quietly. There's no tell what is going on. It could be one pony it could be a nationwide group or it could simply be that he survived and was waiting for the best time to strike. There is one thing I do know, Revenant and his team are good fighters. I feel we will need their help with what is happening."

"I agree they are very capable and I feel that Revenant is not the type of pony who would abandon those in need." We sat there in silence for a while simply looking out the window. "Luna, does Revenant feel familiar to you?"

"No, why?" She sighed, "I do not know, I just feel that I know him. He feels familiar." The truth is I felt it too I just did not want to say so. The way he acts, how he protects those around him and his physical form all remind me of Steel. Luckily Revenant and his team walked in saving me from my thoughts. "The perimeter is secure once again. Though this encounter has only strengthened my belief that this isn't natural." Not even waiting for us to ask why he continued. "One of the manticores jumped over one of my attacks, which should have been impossible for a guard recruit yet an unintelligent creature dodged it. I have the feeling somepony is using them like puppets on strings dancing to whatever tune he decides on." This was most troubling, "Then you will have our full support. If you need anything just ask." He nodded, "Thank you princess. If you will excuse us, we will be planning our search tomorrow." They turned to leave, "Revenant," He looked back, "I'm sure there are some unused bedroom feel free to make use of them. It's better than camping on the other side of town and having to walk all the way over here."

"Thank you princess, you are too kind."

 **Authors Note:** Like I said I wanted to have this out by New Year's but that didn't happen. Anyway sorry for more filler, I had wanted to add more to this chapter but I felt this was a good place to stop. I do promise more action in the next chapter which will probably be two parts, or a really long chapter, haven't decided yet. I want to try and get the next chapter out before I go back to school but I don't think that will happen. See last month my friend and I decided we wanted to go to Disney over this break… we leave today. So when I come back I have a week to get ready for school. I will do my best to write the chapter but I don't think it will happen. Also I want to apologize in advance if, in the future, I drone on about the new story I have planned I'm really excited about it and hope it does well. It will probably be posted around chapter eleven but I will mention in the chapter that the story ties into when to expect it. And trust me it will be a very obvious tie in.


	6. Searching… Searching… Found?

Chapter 6: Searching… Searching… Found?

 **Authors Note:** Sorry about the wait but school has started again and I now have a job so I have even less time than I had before. Which means that my updates will be even more sporadic than they already are. That said this chapter is a lot of filler and set up so it was a little boring to write and as such took longer to write than normal.

 **Castle of the Royal Sisters  
Local time: 1400  
Ten days since return**

 _It's been over a week since we began our search and still we have found nothing. That being said this forest is vast and far, far larger than I thought. Not only has our search here shown no progress but there has been nothing that would indicate that Shade is making any moves. I do not know if he knows that we are already here or if he is simply playing it safe because he knows eventually we would be. I do not know if he is simply waiting or if he has taking control of some company and plans to buy the competition and control this world through its economy… but that didn't really work out too well for him last time. We barely had to do anything, by the time we learned who he was pretending to be his company was already crumbling because of infighting and would have eventually collapsed we just helped it along. I'm getting off topic, our lack of results is disheartening but we will continue upon this path until we have completed our goal or new information regarding Shade's plan or location reaches us._

Closing my journal I put it back in my bag and finished the rest of my sandwich. The others were still out searching but I had decided to call it an early day. But I was not idle, I was looking over the map the guards had given us and comparing it to the scans and map data the others and I had been collecting. Searching for anything we might have missed as well as making a more complete map. Just because I was technically dead to everypony didn't mean I wasn't going to help them when I could. That being said the past few days have been taxing for me and it wasn't just the search. Luna and Celestia had decided to take over here giving Twilight a much needed break which meant I saw them around the castle many times. Seeing Luna was hard enough but since we were so close to Ponyville Silver would spend the nights here instead of going back to Canterlot. I cannot describe the pain, it is hard to put into words but those that have been or are in my position know what I am talking about. I have kept my distance as much as possible from both of them but it's been hard. Running into to them around corners, seeing them occasionally when consulting with the guards, seeing Luna greet Silver when see arrives after school. That happened once and now I make it a point to avoid the front gate from three to five just so I don't have to see them and be reminded once again that I'm not part of their lives and likely never will be again. Sighing I focus on the map again. Adding another section to it I rub my temple realizing just how truly vast this forest is and that's just the landscape we can see and get readings on. For all we know there could be caves we're missing because of the ridiculous amount of trees and the interference they're making. This continues for another four hours before I send the others a message to pack it in for the day. Leaving what we have dubbed the map room I noticed that the guards were standing just a little straighter, their armor was shining just a little brighter, and they all looked a little nervous, maybe even a hit excited. To the average pony they would look the same but after a few thousand years of looking for things like that I could spot the changes a mile away. After passing a couple of guards I couldn't help but wonder what was going on, it wasn't the princesses because they have already been here from some time. Passing a group of guards who were talking amongst themselves I decided to find out what was going… and maybe mess with them a little. "What are you slackers doing!?" All four of them snapped to attention, oh yeah this was going to be fun. "None of you noticed me approach, had I wished to do the princesses harm I would have walked right past you." Looking at the one on the left I pointed at him, "You what's your name guard?"

"Uh, Leaf Storm, sir." It seems in their shock they've forgotten that I have no power over them. "Well I don't like it, from now on your name is Snowball. How does that sound private Snowball?" Before he had a chance to respond I head the guard at the other end of the line snicker. "Is there something funny?" He shook his head. I was smiling inside my helmet, this guard is on the short side and I always wanted to use this insult but just never had a good opportunity. "Aren't you a little short to be a guard, how tall are you?"

"Four three, maybe four four." I looked him up and down, "Well which is it!? You know what it doesn't matter, either way I didn't know they stacked shit that high!" He was about to retort when we heard chuckling from further down the corridor. Turning the four guards froze like deer in headlights while I just looked at the two very familiar ponies at the end of the hall. Luckily my helmet hid the shocked look that was undoubtedly on my face. They were different than I remembered but I guess that is to be expected after eight years. The pegasus was grizzled not in appearance but in attitude, appearing to have an even colder attitude than before, and the unicorn simply looked older with the addition of a scar that went over his left eye vertically. "Oh don't mind us we're just enjoying the show." Then I shall not disappoint. "Oh now I see why your armor is so clean. I thought it was because you were new but you don't have that fear the new recruits have. No, you were trying to impress your superiors. If there is one thing I hate more than slackers its brown nosers! Now I want laps around the building! And I want five of them! And so help you Celestia if I found out you aren't running or you don't do them all I will find out and I will make your life a living hell!" The four of them offered up sloppy salutes and ran away with their tails between their legs. Once they were out of sight the unicorn and I started chuckling while the pegasus just rolled his eyes. "I wonder how long it will take them to realize that I have absolutely no power to force them to run those laps."

"Who cares, you had no right to treat our guards like that." The pegasus pointed out which in response caused the unicorn to jab him in the side. "Lighten up Silent, it was a harmless joke. You need to learn to lighten up." He grunted and started to walk off, "This castle is under constant threat and you don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation." He turned down an adjacent corridor causing his unicorn companion to sigh. "I'm sorry about that, he hasn't really been… well, something happened a while ago and he never really recovered. I'm captain Broadsword that was captain Silent Flight, you must be Revenant." I nodded and shook his hoof, "Indeed I am, it is nice to meet you Captain.

"And you as well." He turned down the hallway and motioned for me to follow him. "I'm not sure if the princesses have told you or not but captain Silent Flight and I will be supporting you for the rest of your mission. We each command a squad of very experienced ponies and we will assist you with whatever you need help with. We're front line fighters not scouts, so I was thinking we would hang back until you located the source of these attacks and then our three teams would attack together." I nodded, if they wanted to stay at the castle until we had a target that was great for us. It keeps them out of harm's way and from sibling upon Shades camp and an early death. "If I may ask, where did you get you experience?" He sighed and stopped to gaze out a window, "No doubt you know of the Shadow War and the shadow creatures we fought. After the leader Shadow Steel was killed, or at least thought to be killed, thank you for finally killing him by the way. Most of his army was killed with him, however some of his creatures escaped. The two of us, as well as some volunteers, devoted the next two years to tracking down and eliminating the last of those foul creatures. We lost some brave ponies in our quest but we succeeded and after another year without any sightings we returned to our normal duties until the princesses assigned us all to the same squads. From that point on we've been dispatched to deal with any major threats to Equestria's security." I nodded, "Good, it will be nice to have ponies such as yourselves helping us." I turned to meet up with the rest of my team when I stopped. "Your partners behavior, is it because of all the ponies that died on your quest?"

"Not entirely, he was already damaged when the quest started but their deaths only made his problem worse. But this is his story to tell if you want to know more you will have to ask him yourself." I nodded and went to the front gates where the rest of the squad was waiting. It was good to see those two again even if it was only briefly. Outside the gates Spyro, Cynder, and Johnson were already waiting for me. We waited a few minutes for Anderson before heading inside without him. By the time we reached the dining hall, which the princesses are kindly allowing us to use along with the chiefs and wait staff, we all agreed that today we learned absolutely nothing of importance. Still waiting on Anderson we ordered our food and were discussing how to make our search more effective. Halfway through our meals Anderson finally arrived but it much worse condition than we expected. His armor was covered in mud and scratches of various lengths and sizes, "I found it. I found where the Timberwolves are coming from." We rushed out of the dining hall and back to the map room. "Where are they coming from?" He pointed to a point on the map we hadn't yet filled in. "There is a deep valley in this part of the forest but the trees have grown so tall that it looks like there's only a small dip in the terrain."

"Any idea what to expect in that valley or why the Timberwolves are attacking us?" He shook his head, "No, I didn't even get to the bottom of the valley before I was surrounded on all sides and outnumbered. I had to fall back but if what I saw in that valley is any indication what we're seeing here at the castle isn't even a fraction of their strength." As we processed that information we heard the door close. "Then how bad is it?"

"Princess Luna, we didn't see you there." I turned to fully face her as I had my back to the door. "I guessed as much since you didn't notice me as you ran passed me in the hall. I take it you plan on exploring this hidden valley so I just need to know what you need from us."

"Right now we don't really need anything. The five of us will explore the valley tomorrow but while we're doing that I want some of your guards on standby in case we find the source of the timberwolf problem or we need help out there. At the same time I want the rest of the guards searching the other parts of the forest for the place the gryphons are coming from." She nodded, "Than I will inform my sister and we will begin organizing the guards for tomorrow." With that she left and we began planning for tomorrow. Unfortunately with so little information to go on our plan was basically- no, it _was_ walk in there and wing it. I had Anderson forward me the map data he collected so I could fill in the map. It was well past sunset to finish but once I was done I walked around the castle as I was not yet tired. As there was nothing else to do for the rest of the day I wandered the halls of the castles and as I wandered so did my mind. As I wandered I found the empty halls drawing my mind to the empty hole in my heart. Sure Luna and Silver were here in the castle and I could tell them who I really am and fill said hole. But at the same time is my happiness really worth putting a target on their backs. Could I really be so selfish that I would reunite with them just to feel better and put them in danger? No, no I couldn't. I would rather be miserable and die a horribly painful death then put them in danger. Eventually I found myself in the deserted ballroom with nothing but these dark, depressing thoughts in need of some sort of release.

* * *

POV change: Luna

Walking through the halls I made sure to keep my eyes and ears pealed for Silver. While I love my daughter more than I do my title, my duty, or even my own sister on certain occasions she is a horrible night owl and refuses to go to bed before midnight. While I do wish for her go to bed earlier like other ponies her age I am content with her spending the time before she goes to bed in her room but when we travel she tends to wander and explore. And because she tends to explore it is my responsibility as her parent to send her back to bed but it seems she has gotten bored of exploring the castle. While we have been here for almost a week but these halls still seem to draw out my memories of a time long past and, unfortunately, some more recent memories. Passing what was once the entrance to the dungeons I shuddered slightly at the memories of what had transpired there when Shadow Steel had captured Applejack and I, not to mention what happened not long after that. Luckily Twilight had the forethought to seal the entrance to not only the dungeon but also the antechamber that lead to the dungeon, perhaps she also wished to forget the events of that day. My memories eventually led me to the ballroom. I remembered many a ball held in said room but my musing was cut short when I heard music coming from the ballroom and a voice singing with it.

 _I saw the light fade from the sky  
On the wind I heard a sigh  
As the snowflakes cover my fallen brothers  
I will say this last goodbye_

Opening the doors I found the music much clearer as well of the cause of the music and the singer.

 _Night is now falling  
So ends this day  
The road is now calling  
And I must away_

 _Over hill and under tree_  
 _Through lands where never light has shone_  
 _By silver streams that run down to the sea_  
 _Under cloud, beneath the stars_  
 _Over snow and winter's morn_  
 _I turn at last to paths that lead home_

Dancing in the center of the room was Revenant accompanied by a spectral figure. It was some sort of magical construct that looked like a female alicorn. It was the same color as his magic and had no discernable features other than the horn and wings.

 _And, oh, where the road then takes me,  
I cannot tell  
We came all this way  
But now comes the day  
To bid you farewell_

 _Many places I have been  
Many sorrows I have seen  
But don't regret  
Nor will I forget  
All who took that road with me_

Revenant and the construct stopped and then began to dance in a slow waltz… It almost brought a tear to my eye. While I couldn't be entirely sure without asking I fear that he suffered the same way I have, that this mare is no longer among the living. They continued to dance as Specter continued to sing.

 _Night is now falling  
So ends this day  
The road is now calling|  
And I must away_

 _Over hill, and under tree  
Through lands where never light has shone  
By silver streams that run down to the sea  
To these memories I will hold  
With your blessing I will go  
To turn at last to paths that lead home_

 _And, oh, where the road then takes me,  
I cannot tell  
We came all this way  
But now comes the day  
To bid you farewell_

 _I bid you all a very fond farewell_

When the song ended, he bowed to the mare before she backed up and a foal faded into existence next to her. She and the foal walked away, fading as they went. I heard a sigh of grief and regret come from him before he turned towards the door. He jumped a little when he saw me standing in the doorway. "Princess, how long have you been there?"

"Long enough…" He nodded and moved to walk past me, "Who was she?" He sighed, "She's the love of my life and one day I will see her again, I will see both of them again." I started to follow him, "Then why do you not return to her?"

"Because my duty keeps me away. My duty is my fate and I had to leave her because of it. In this line of work anyone close to you can become a target and I won't put them in danger. One day I will see them again even if it is after we all have passed." We stopped outside his room, "If you'll excuse me princess I would like to retire for the night." Revenant retreated into his room and locked the door behind him, not that I blame him those questions were very personal. Though I can't help but be drawn to him, with the rest of his team I have had multiple discussions on various topics but Revenant has gone out of his way to avoid me as much as possible. It's as if he only wishes to speak to me in an official capacity and for the longest time I could not figure out why. But tonight's talk has finally given me a reason, even if it's wrong, as to why he avoids me which makes me feel better about myself. He's not avoiding me because of my past, not that it really matters to me anymore as I have long since gotten over ponies judging me about my past, but because he's afraid to get close to anypony. Though it does sadden me to see a pony so afraid that what he has will be lost that he willingly throws it away.

* * *

POV change: Steel

 **Everfree Forest  
Local time: 1030  
Eleven days since return**

After conferring with princess Celestia and confirming that the guards have been informed of their duties and that Broadsword and Silent are on standby. I told them that if we need help we will signal them with a flare. As we trekked through the forest to the hidden valley Anderson was in the lead as he had the most knowledge of the terrain, Spyro was behind him with me in the middle of the formation. Behind me was Johnson with Cynder taking up the rear as she was the one in our group most likely to notice if we were being followed. Our journey to the valley was uninterrupted but as we began our decent into the valley proper we encountered some resistance. Spyro took care of the timberwolves for the most part with the rest of us on clean-up it wasn't until what we guessed to be halfway down into the valley when we encountered heavy resistance. By then all of us had engaged the timberwolves as they were coming from all sides. As we continued to advance into the valley we also continued our slog through what appeared to be a never ending sea of timberwolves. Every step we took was over slashed, crushed, charred, frozen, or melted wood. Luckily we found a path through the trees, it was a natural path so it was littered with roots and fallen branches but we didn't have to weave around the trees anymore. But as we continued on the path I got the feeling that something was wrong, that the path was too straight, the ground beneath us too hard like it had been walked upon many times, and at one point I saw a stone that was almost too square as if it was crafted for a specific purpose. Their attacks were relentless as was our defense, for every timberwolf we stuck down three more took its place but not one of them breached the defensive circle we had created. Eventually the ground beneath us began to level out giving me the impression that we had had reached the bottom of the valley. We pressed forward thinking that soon we would find the source of the timberwolves and perhaps end this peacefully. However none of us expected what would happened next

We continued pushing forward and it looked like the sea of timberwolves in front of us was starting to thin. And then they stopped. As if we had just passed through some sort of barrier but a quick check proved that theory false. There was nothing keeping the timberwolves from coming after us except their own will, if they have it. I'm still not quite sure if timberwolves are living creatures or some kind of naturally, or artificially, created magical constructs but I digress. Spyro was the first to speak, "Why are they stopping with their numbers it's only a matter of time before they wear us down." I shook my head, "I don't know but I have a feeling that we'll find our answer up ahead." The others nodded their heads. Like me they knew that something was up ahead, something powerful and most likely dangerous. While Spyro is a great fighter he doesn't quite have the same experience and instincts the rest of us do as he was never in a legitimate military, though I am hesitant to call the Dark Army that Cynder once commanded a legitimate army, so it is not surprising that he didn't immediately pick up on the danger that almost certainly lay ahead. While our time as a unit has increased his combat prowess we never trained Spyro like military, we gave him individual training when needed as well as our team sparring sessions but never any formal training like we had in our respective militaries. This was for a few reasons but mostly because there was never any real time to do and it just wasn't really necessary. He is just as strong and as good a fighter as the rest of us but at the same time he can connect better with civilians because he does not have the same military mindset the rest of us have. Not to say that myself or the others are bad at interacting with civilians, excluding Cynder who had almost no interactions with civilians before joining the team and has made excellent progress with her communication and people skills, Spyro can just connect with them better. Shaking my head to get back on track I lead the others forward until we came out of the trees and into what appeared to be some kind of clearing filled with berry bushes, apple trees, and other such fruits as well as a couple of vegetables. Passing through the clearing we went back into the trees, though at first glance the trees were farther apart and as we passed by them it soon became apparent why. Houses, stone houses, were buried under the roots of the trees and other vegetation. We passed by many of them, crumbled and deserted, weathered by time and the untamed weather of the Everfree Forest. Eventually we found one that was mostly intact and took a short break inside. Inside there was a stone table as well as stone tools and bowls and what, at one point, could have been a bed of hay. Looking around I got a distinctively Aztec feel from the house as I had visited many Aztec ruins before I came to Equestria as well as actual Aztec buildings during my time in Tenochtitlan helping Emperor Montezuma fight against the Spanish and Shade. Running a hoof over part of the wall I saw how easily pieces of stone came off the walls. "This place is old, very old." The others nodded, "I do not know of any other cities in the Everfree nor do the princesses otherwise they would have told us. This could well be the site of a long lost pony civilization perhaps even one of the first cities ever made by ponies." I chuckled Twilight is going to flip out when she hears about this." This caused the others to laugh as well, from my stories as well as the few times they've spoken with her they know how much of a total nerd she is. A nerd who would, without a doubt, start salivating the minute she heard about it and be out the door a minute later. After a brief rest, as well as some speculation about the lost city itself, we head back out in the city and continued on our way. The city was larger than I had expected and if I had to guess it was at least three times as large as Canterlot. From the edge of the city we saw what appeared to be a hill on the far side of the city but as we got closer it became clear that it was not a hill but a large pyramid structure that if I had to guess was also a temple as it was also in the same Aztec like style as the rest of the city. Though it was in a different state than the rest of the city, it wasn't in complete disrepair or in near new condition but it was completely covered by nature. There were great trees growing from it and every inch of the structure was covered by the roots of the trees. We stood at the base of the temple looking up at the very impressive but very tall structure, "Who wants to bet that what we're looking for is at the top of that?" The others groaned and we began our climb up the temple. As we climbed we found that it wasn't one complete staircase and had four landings, for lack of a better word, which was great for us considering how treacherous the stairs were since they we covered in vines. At one of the landings I took a quick peak inside the temple only to find that vines covered the entire interior as well. At the temple's summit we found the most peculiar sight. "Well, I think we found what we're looking for." The top of the temple was not covered in vines like the rest of the structure and perched on the head of stone carving of a timberwolf, just above a sacrificial alter, was a wooden statue. If I had to guess it was made to look like a timberwolf but it was unlike any kind of timberwolf I had seen before. "So, do we just grab it?" We all shrugged in response to Cynder's question. Since she got no real response Cynder just walked over to pick it up. But as her paw was inches from the idol we were stopped. " **You dare attempt to steal from my shrine!** " Standing back to back we searched for the source of the voice. " **You enter my lands without permission, slaughter my children, and desecrate my shrine. Before I kill you I will let you beg for mercy.** "

"We meant no disrespect." I said stepping forward, still unable to find who I was speaking to. "Timberwolves have been attacking us and we determined that they were coming from here. We merely wished to stop the attacks on our land." The voice growled in response. " **Your lands! These lands have been mine since long before you were born. And I will reclaim what is mine.** "

"Those are innocent ponies who are being harmed. Besides nopony has any claim to the Everfree forest, it has no owner recognized by the nation of Equestria." As I spoke I noticed the vines around the temple slither towards the stone statue behind me indicating that whoever we were facing was a unicorn. " **You insolent fool. I rule this forest and all within it. The ponies who lived in this city so long ago knew this and offered tribute. For a time there was peace. Then they attempted to control the very world around them, bend nature to their will and I cast them out. Those who refused to leave were killed to the last. And after using so much power I slept. And in my slumber you ponies returned and claimed the forest as your own. But now that I am awake I shall continue what I started and retake what is mine.** "

"Please I beg you, you do not need to do this." By now the vines completely covered the statue and have stopped moving. " **You go against the very laws of the planet itself. You bend the elements to your will and change the seasons when you deem it necessary. This is not the natural order and you shall be punished accordingly.** " Hearing cracking we turned to the statue to see the idol fall and get crushed under the foot of the now moving statue which was an exact replica of the idol. " **I am Sovereign, lord of the forest, defender of nature, and you will die by my paws.** "

 **Authors Note:** So that's the end of the chapter I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will have the battle with Sovereign. For anyone interested I took the character Sovereign from the Emerald Gleaner stories by Legionary. That said I did not ask for permission to user the character so please don't hate me.


	7. The Forest's Secrets

**Authors Note:** I will not apologize for the delay. I will simply say that for a while I had no time to write and then I lost interest in this story. But I went to Bronycon and now I'm getting back into the swing of things. Also for some reason this chapter was very hard to write even though I had it fully planed out over a year ago. Anyway longer authors note at the end of the chapter regarding the future of this story and no, I am not discontinuing it. Enjoy.

Chapter 7: The Forest's Secrets

 **Everfree Forest  
Local time: 1300  
Eleven days since return**

A cold breeze blew from behind us as we stared down the forest spirit called Sovereign atop the ancient temple. Spark transmitted my attack plan to the others. Spyro and Cynder would attack from the air, Johnson the left, Anderson the right, I will face him head on. With a roar Sovereign charged forward and we sprang into action. Responding with my own charge I launched fireballs as we closed the distance between us. When Sovereign attempted to crush me I slid under him and sent another fireball at his back causing him to stumble for a moment. Capitalizing on this opportunity I used a flamethrower spell which kept him pinned and gave me a chance to see what the others were doing. Spyro and Cynder were circling above us, Spyro using fire and Cynder using wind to help the flames spread. Anderson grabbed some vines and was trying to tie Sovereign's legs together. Meanwhile Johnson was hanging back most likely to figure out some way to attack without getting caught in our attacks. Despite the continued barrage of fire Sovereign quickly stood up and backhanded me into Johnson and off the top of the temple. Grabbing Johnson I stopped our decent and flew us back to the top of the temple. Sovereign had removed the vines that were wrapped around him and now commanded them to move against Anderson in order to make him an easier target while simultaneously holding off Spyro and Cynder. Not only was he proving to be a challenging adversary but the damage from my fire spells was nearly nonexistent and was healing rapidly. Dropping off Johnson I took to the air and covered myself in flames before launching myself at Sovereign. Landing on his back I grabbed hold and watched as my flames did little to no damage. "Spyro, fire doesn't seem to be working try something else." Drawing my sword I plunged it in-between Sovereign's Shoulder blades. As I attempted to pry off Sovereign's armor like skin Spyro conferred with Cynder. Spyro started using ice while Cynder switched to her acid. After prying off a piece of armor Spyro shot a few ice spikes into the wound causing Sovereign to flinch in pain, the first sign that we were doing any actual damage. With a few hard shakes Sovereign threw me off his back and swiped at me with his claws, he did not penetrate my armor but he did manage to disorient me. He then grabbed me and threw me at Spyro and Cynder. Cynder managed to dodge me but I crashed into Spyro before I could recover. Sovereign retreated slightly so he could watch us all at once. As he did that the plate I removed was surrounded in a green glow and floated back over to him before reattaching to the spot it was ripped from. Staying in the air I saw that Johnson had helped Anderson with the vines and now they were coming up behind Sovereign. He saw them coming and lashed out with his tail knocking the two of them back. Sovereign seamed to pause for a moment reassessing the situation. He then through his head back and howled, receiving many replies form the forest. As the others continued the fight I looked back at the forest to see the massive hordes that we had fought through before surging towards the temple, their number immeasurable. "Guys, we have a problem."

"Yeah we do." Johnson said, "This son of a bitch just won't die." Cynder flew over to me to see what had drawn my attention away from the fight. "Oh yeah, that's bad."

"Johnson, Anderson, disengage and deal with the timberwolves." Johnson was thrown back towards us and slid to stop below the two of us. "What timberwolves?" I simply pointed behind him. Turning around he finally saw the approaching horde. "Oh, those timerwolves." Anderson came over and helped him to his hooves before they made their way down to the base of temple. Rejoining the fight I had Spyro land and use his earth powers. Cynder and I circled Sovereign's head while Spyro attempted to hold him in place. I flew lower and used my sword to slash at Sovereign's legs. This continued for a while until I was almost stepped on which wouldn't have killed me but it would have been very uncomfortable. Our attacks continued to do nothing but annoy Sovereign but we continued without pause. For ten minutes we tried everything we could think of but most of our attacks had no effect. The only time we did any sort of lasting damage is when we manage to get under the large wooden plates of armor. As we were tossed back again Cynder flew next to me. "We can't keep this up, we're not doing enough damage. At this rate he'll outlast us." It was true, we were starting to tire and Sovereign showed no signs of even breathing hard. Looking behind us Johnson and Anderson had almost been pushed back to the top of the temple. "Spyro, go help the others." Spyro shot Cynder a concerned glance but nodded and went over to help. "Cynder, if I distract him can you use your shadow powers to phase into him?"

"I don't know, I've never tried anything like that before." I sighed, "I know but we're running out of options. We need to end this soon." She nodded and circled behind Sovereign while I charged at him. It seemed that Sovereign also wished to end the fight as he grabbed a large piece of the smashed alter and threw it at me. I dodged it but it left me unable to avoid his follow up attack and I was driven into the ground. Luckily this bought Cynder enough time for her attack. Landing on his back she sunk into him using her power. Seconds later she came exploding out of his side leaving a massive hole in his side. Sovereign staggered for a moment before his front right leg detached from his body and he finally collapsed. I stood in front of his body and Cynder landed next to me. "Well that's finally over." I nodded but before I could respond Anderson slid to a stop next to me. "That's great but if you two are done celebrating we still have to deal with the timeberwolves."

"I don't understand without Sovereign to lead them they should have gone back to their normal levels of intelligence and dispersed."

" **This form may be damaged but I endure.** " Turning around I saw Sovereign's eyes still glowing. " **I have lived for millennium, I existed before your earliest ancestors walked this earth, you will not kill me. Even if you destroy this form I will craft another to replace it.** " The others came to stand next to me as the timberwolves encircled us. " **Me and my kind have always existed and while the others no longer walk the earth, I have endured. So long as this forest exists so will I. You cannot stop me, you cannot prevent want is to come.** **Resistance is futile.** "

"I don't care what kind of magic you used to bind yourself to this forest but we will stop you." The others nodded and my declaration but he just laughed. " **You still do not comprehend my existence. I did not bind myself to this forest, I am the forest. When the other elementals walked the earth I created this forest, I have protected it and I shall continue to do so. You are a threat to my forest, you and the other shall be removed.** " The timerwolves started to advance, "Wait. Wait! This other who is it?"

" **You think words will stop your destruction? I have no desire to play your games. You will die, then I will remove the rest of your kind from my forest.** " I put up a shield as the timberwolves lunged at us buying us a few more minutes. " **That shield will not save you, death is inevitable.** " I grunted as the shield was repeatedly hit. "No it won't but perhaps we can make a deal."

" **No, I will not make a deal with you ponies.** " The shield flickered, "Another deal? Who was the first one with?"

" **The other one wished to make a deal as well. He wanted for us to work together to destroy his enemies. But he was dripping in darkness, it permeated his being. He would not have honored the deal. I accepted but he knows not that I am using him. You will weaken each other and then I will destroy you all. No one will ever control it or me.** " As the shield continued to flicker I gather its remaining energy and launched it in a wave and knocked the majority of timberwolves off the top of the temple. "Wait, please. He is our enemy as well. We can make a deal and we can defeat him together."

" **You existence means nothing to me, what could you have that I want.** " I walked up to his face so he could see me clearly while the others made sure the timberwolves didn't try anything. "You want to be free I can respect that. If you let us leave, end the attacks on the castle, and tell us where this other pony is I can get you a meeting with the princesses of Equestria. I am more than positive that the princesses will do all in their power to make sure that your forest remains free." Sovereign's eyes dimed and a timberwolf walked out, its eyes now glowing. " **What incentive do I have to believe you? Why should I not just kill you now?** " Glancing at the others, I stepped forward, "If you agree to a meeting with the princess and they do not agree to leave your forest alone I will willingly return to face whatever punishment you deem fit. Even death." Sovereign paused before taking another step forward bringing his face directly in front of my own. " **I will accept your offer but know this. If you are lying you're punishment will be excruciating and I will kill all that reside in this forest, none will escape alive.** " We led Sovereign out of the valley and back to the castle. As the six of us rose out of the valley I was barely able to make out the sun through the trees, already on its decent. As we approached the castle's perimeter I noticed the guards tense up but I waved them off. Standing in front of the main doors I turned to Sovereign. "Wait here, I'll get the princesses." He sat down, " **Do so quickly, my patience is fleeting.** " I nodded and went into the castle. I dismissed the others so that they could get food and rest while I made my way to the throne room. Entering I saw that neither of the princesses were present, "Guard, where are the princesses?"

"They are in a meeting and are not to be disturbed." That was inconvenient. "Please send somepony to inform them that I have discovered the source of the timberwolves attacking the castle and I need to speak with them immediately." The guard just gave me a blank stare. "They said they were not to be disturbed."

"I have spent all day fighting legions of timberwolves. I am tired, hungry, and out of patience. Now you will send somepony to inform them of my return or I will interrupt that meeting myself."

"You will watch you're tone mercenary. The princesses are not to be disturbed." Luckily before the two of us got into a fight a familiar face and a welcome sight came around the corner. "What's going on here?" The guard saluted, "Captain Broadsword, sir. I was just informing this _mercenary_ that the princesses are busy and do not want to be disturbed." Broadsword looked at me, "Does this have anything to do with the timberwolf sitting outside the castle?" I nodded, "Yes, I need to speak with the princesses immediately."

"I will inform them but ultimately it is their decision and if they decide that they will speak with you later then you will wait until later." I nodded and Broadsword left. I waited by the door and the guard returned to his spot. The two of us engaged in a glaring contest as we waited for the captain to return. Five minutes later Broadsword retuned following Princess Celestia. I bowed, "Princess Celestia, thank you for meeting with me. I know that you other meeting was just as important."

"No its not. My sister can handle that meeting alone. You were sent to stop the attacks on my little ponies and their lives always take priority. Now what have you found." She led me to a room on the side where there was a table and chairs. "The source of the attacks is a spirt that calls itself Sovereign. It referred to itself as a being called an Elemental, I am afraid I am not familiar with the term." Celestia nodded, "I know very little about them myself. They are older than even my parents and one has not been seen since before the unifying of the three tribes. But what I do know is that they are beings of incredible power and attuned to one of the elements. Some of the recorded elements were fire, ice, and water, it is believed that the windigos that caused the three tribes to unite were actually Elementals. What can you tell me about this one?"

"Not much I'm afraid, I spent most of the time fighting him. He is angry and believes that you are encroaching on his territory." Celestia stood and began pacing, "That is not good. If he has even a fraction of the power that the stories say Elementals have than it will take myself and the other three princesses to defeat him." I cleared my throat, "I do not think that he will be that difficult to fight. From what I've learned he has slept for the last few thousand years and only recently woke up, his full power may not have returned yet. But at this moment it is not important." She gave me a surprised look, "I have managed to convince him that we did not intentionally invade his territory. He is waiting outside the castle, I need you and your sister top talk to him. Hopefully you can reach some sort of compromise with him and we can focus on the manticore threat." She nodded, "I will go get my sister and meet you in the throne room. Please bring the spirit." She moved to leave but I stopped her. "With respect princess, I think it would be better for you to go out and meet him outside. Being surrounded by the forest might make him more comfortable and help with negotiating with him."

"Very well, my sister and I will meet the two of you outside." With that she left and I made my way outside. When I arrived Sovereign had an annoyed look on his face, " **You have returned, good. My patience has run out. The princesses?** " I took a seat next to him, "They're on the way. They were in another meeting." He did not respond, "I have held up my end of the deal, now it's time for you to hold up yours." He looked at me, " **I have stopped my attacks and come to this meeting. I have upheld my end of the deal.** "

"You also said that you would tell us where the other is. You have not yet divulged that information." He nodded and another timberwolf stepped out of the forest and sat at the edge of the clearing. " **When you are ready to go inform that wolf, he will lead you to the cave that the other is residing in.** " I nodded as the doors to the castle opened and Luna and Celestia walked out. They stopped in front of us and Luna was the first to speak. "So you are the Elemental that has been sending the timberwolves to attack us."

" **I am but you are the ones who are desecrating my forest. You will not twist this forest like you have the rest of the world. It shall remain free as long as I live.** " Luna did not take kindly to his remarks but Celestia stepped in before things could get out of hoof. "Sister please remain calm. Let us talk about how we can peacefully coexist." Seeing that I was no longer needed now that the three of them were talking I went inside. I quickly sent a message to the others that we were leaving at oh nine hundred tomorrow. Hopefully by this time tomorrow Shade will have been dealt with and we can leave. I don't want to go but I don't know how much longer I can be around Luna, the hole in my heart seams to get bigger every time I see her. The dining hall for the guards was packed when I arrived, not surprising since it is around dinner time. Grabbing a tray I took my place at the end of the line. I was nearly at the front of the line where at food was and I could feel my mouth start to water, I did skip lunch as I was busy fighting all day. I could smell the food as I drew closer. My hoof was inches from a bowl of salad when I head somepony call my name. Cursing under my breath I took a deep breath and turned around to find myself face to face with Luna. "Princess Luna, how can I help you?"

"Do you have time to talk?" Silent crying for my lost meal I nodded and followed her out of the dining hall. She asked me about what I knew about Sovereign. I told her though it was not much. In turn she told me that their talk with Soveregin ended when he got bored and walked away. Celestia did manage to get him to agree to continue the talks at a later date. Celestia was optimistic that he would return tomorrow but I didn't think he would. It was more likely that he would return whenever he found it most convent for him, which could be next week or next month, and Luna agreed with me. Our conversation came to an end outside the royal dining hall. As I said goodbye to Luna and made to return to the guards dining hall Celestia turned the corner at the other end of the hall. She wanted to get my opinion of Sovereign as well and invited me to dine with them. While the food was delicious it was a pain to keep my voice disguised as in order to eat I had to remove the lower part of my helmet which was where the voice distorter was located. During the dinner Celestia informed me that they would be returning to Canterlot tomorrow and if we needed anything to have Spike send one of them a letter. After dinner I bid the two princess goodnight and returned to my loaned quarters for a much deserved rest.

* * *

 **Everfree Forest  
** **Local time: 1200  
** **Twelve days since return**

We had been following our guide for a few hours, it seems that the cave Shade had chosen was much deeper in the forest than Sovereign's temple. After another few minutes the timberwolf lead us to a newly made clearing. We could tell that the clearing was recently made because it was littered with the stumps of freshly cut trees, something that Sovereign would not allow. The trees that were cut down probably gave him even more reason to distrust Shade. At the far side of the clearing was the entrance of a cave. Signaling the others we activated our camouflage and quietly made our way across the clearing. Stopping at the mouth of the cave I saw a multitude of claw marks both old and new. "What do you guys think about these claw marks?"

"Some of them look ancient but they are definitely made by manticores." I agreed with Cynder's assessment, "My guess is that this has been the packs den for generations. Shade must have either killed the alpha or more likely broke its mind and made it his slave." I nodded. In our battles against him we've come across more than a few people that he turned into his own personal slave, his two favorite methods are to either brainwash them or brake their minds and put it back together in a way that makes them useful to him. Steering myself away from those thoughts I lead my team into the cave. Not long after entering the cave we saw what must have been the manticore den before Shade took control and a newly created tunnel at the far side of the cave. I could tell that it was mare recently because I could see fresh tool marks and there was the smell of cut stone in the air. Cautiously moving into the tunnel we found ourselves in a large chamber with a large steel door across from the end of the tunnel. "Cynder watch our backs. Everyone else with me." We cautiously crossed the room looking for any traps but the room was surprisingly empty. Stopping in front of the door I looked for any way to open it but it appeared to only open from one side. "Johnson, get this door open." Switching the imaging on my visor I attempted to look through the wall and see what we were dealing with. Looking at the wall I could barely make out what was on the other side. "I'm getting interference on my visor. Anyone else getting it?" I looked around at the rest of the camber and got the same results. "I've got it too, it must be something in the rocks here." I agreed with Spyro. "Spark is there any way to increase the resolution?"

"Give me a minute… that should help but it's the best I can do." Focusing on the door again I saw the remains of the manticore pride. "This is definitely the source of the manticores. It looks like he's turned the pack into a baby factory. At this point it would be more humane to put them down." It was both sickening and saddening, not even puppy mills were this bad. Cynder walked up next to me, "I wonder how many died to make his army." Johnson lit his blowtorch and began cutting through the door. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that we stop him so this can't happen again." The others agreed and we waited for Johnson to open the door. Johnson was almost through the door when Spark detected something odd. "Steel, I'm detecting a power surge below us."

"Any idea what it is?" She ran a few scans but could not get me an answer. "Be on guard he might know that we're here."

"The energy is reaching critical mass. It's going crit-" Instantly all power to my armor was lost and Spark went off line. Unfortunately my armor had a powered endoskeleton and movement became much more difficult as I now had to bear the full weight of the armor. "Anyone still have power?" They all looked over their armor but the result was the same. Before any of them could respond the door exploded knocking us all back. When I got back on my hooves I saw the others struggling to stand and Johnson pinned under the tattered remains of the door. As I moved to help him hundreds of shadow creatures came pouring into the room from the door, the tunnel behind us, and multiple other entrances that must have been shielded by a very powerful spell since not even Spark was able to detect them. We formed a defensive circle around Johnson, unfortunately because of the short distance between us and the encroaching enemy not to mention the suddenness of the attack we weren't able to pull Johnson out from under the door. They were upon us in seconds and the fighting was ferocious. Normally we would have no problem fighting an army of ten thousand or so enemies but with Johnson unable to fight our strategies were limited. In a normal situation we would split up and fight alone or with a partner in the midst of the enemy lines. As we had to guard Johnson we couldn't afford to be surrounded and allow the enemy to get to him. We each covered a different direction and fought with the strength of twenty men. Every blow I landed connected with two or more of our opponents. Had they not dissolved into black mist the charging shadow creatures would have had to climb over a mountain of their fallen comrades to reach us. After fighting for nearly an hour the enemies on three of our sides started to thin, but the side that led to the surface seamed to double in strength. Which meant that our options were either to go deeper into the caves or to make our way to one of the caverns walls. Needless to say we choose the wall, going deeper into the enemies fortress was a recipe for disaster. Anderson, Cynder and I covered Spyro as he removed Johnson from under the door. Dragging him to the nearest wall left a smeared trail of blood on the floor. We were immediately concerned luckily it was not as bad as we had feared. We were able to find his pulse, it was weak but he was alive… for now. The four of us formed a crescent formation and I erected a small shield around Johnson as we prepared for the next large attack. While we were still fighting even as we dragged Johnson there was no doubt that the lull in the enemy's numbers was just because Shade was rethinking his strategy. His soldier may be expendable but he does not like to lose, something that has only been reinforced by the many times we kicked his ass. Much like a chess master he only sacrifices pawns when it works to his advantage. Now that we were against a wall it was much easier to defend our position and we no longer had to hold back in case we were accidentally facing towards each other. Surprisingly the fighting stopped momentarily as the shadow creatures created a no man's land between us. Of course it wasn't hard to figure out their plan, they were amassing their force hoping to overwhelm us with sheer numbers. Were we not in such a dire situation I would have laughed at their stupidity. This tactic has never worked before, why would it now? As one massive wave they charged. I opened up first launching ice spikes into their ranks Cynder not far behind me with her acid element. Spyro attacked next erecting a wall of earth spikes in front of us before launching fireballs into their ranks, switching to his fire breath when necessary. Anderson was forced to wait until they reached him as he currently had no viable long range attack and could not take flight in the cavern. But despite the impressive amount of firepower being sent at them they slowly advanced on us. Eventually they reach our line and we were forced to engage in close quarters combat again. Luckily this was part of the hasty plan we had made in the brief respite we had before. Spyro charged into their left flank, Cynder charged into the right, and I went straight into the center. The three of us were to fight our way deep into the enemy line and use our most destructive attacks. The plan was to make ourselves the more dangerous targets, not to say that we all weren't very dangerous already, and draw attention away from Anderson who had been left to defend Johnson.

The fighting seamed endless. I launched waves of fire, froze entire sections of their army, created spikes, pits, and other static defenses but their army was innumerable, for every one that I killed five more would take its place. I could only hope that the others were faring better than I was. I was using every offensive spell I knew as well as some I was making up on the fly that I would have no chance of reproducing because I was running on instinct. My sword was a blur and I began to feel a head ache form from the rapid depletion of my magical reserves. Not only that, but my horn was starting to release what I can only describe as magical smoke, a sure sign of over use despite my severely limited knowledge of Equestrian physiology. The smell of what could only be burning magic did not mix well with the already horrid stench of blood, charred flesh, and melting rock that I was already forced to endure due to the loss of my helmets air filter. I was holding my position well but almost toppled over when I felt server feedback from my shield spell. I didn't know if Anderson was simply forced away from Johnson or killed but someone or multiple opponents were pounding on the shield which was quickly draining the last of my magical power. Sending a flare into the sky, the signal we agreed upon to retreat to Anderson's position, I fled back to the relative safety of the wall as quickly as possible. Arriving there I saw now sign of Anderson and quickly cut down the Shadow Wolves ramming my shield. The shield was trying to repair itself but my near magical exhaustion meant that there was no additional power for it to draw upon, the cracks simple remained. When the enemy forces on my right seamed to let up I dared to hope that perhaps we had finally depleted Shade's army… I was partially right. While there were no more shadow creatures coming from the right I now had to deal with a very large group of manticores. It seems like we had finally forced Shade to deploy whatever manticores he had under his control to fight since we had destroyed so many of his shadow creatures. As I continued to fight my swords finally drew actual blood after nearly two maybe three hours of fighting, after such a long fight time seamed to blur. There were maybe fifty manticores in total but after fighting for so long fifty felt like five hundred. I aimed mostly for their heads trying to kill them as quickly as I could so that I wouldn't collapse from exhaustion before the fight was over. I was doing well and cut down half their number along with a few dozen shadow creatures before my luck finally ran out. One of the manticores bit deeply into my left hind leg pinning me in place. As I turned to drive my sword into its side another bit down on my shoulder and ripped of the armor on my shoulder before sinking its fangs into my now exposed flesh. At the same time a third drove its stinger through my weakened armor and into my side sending its venom coursing through my veins. Killing those three I turned to the main group severely weakened and barely able to stand. Using the last of my magic I fire one last fire blast at them killing many and scattering the rest. My legs buckled and fell to my knees as they charged again. Leaning heavily on my sword I tried to stand but only managed to stand just as they reached me. Luckily Cynder came to my rescue and forced them back with a gust of wind. I gave her a weak smile before falling to my knees again, my shield flickering out behind me. Cynder stood defiantly before me as the last of Shades army advanced on us. I didn't know if we would survive the fight or not but we defiantly gave it our all. As they charged I thought I heard a cracking noise but dismissed it as an exhaustion induced delusion. It wasn't until chunks of rock began to fall did I realize that while we were going to defeat Shade's army he was going to collapse the cavern around us in one last attempt to kill us. Cynder turned to me with a panicked look on her face and tried to reach me. But the cavern was collapsing too fast and a large chunk of their ceiling landed between us. I couldn't see what happened to her but that was the least of my problems as I was too weak to avoid the falling rock. A particularly large rock hit my head and darkness claimed me.

When I woke up the only way I was able to tell that I was awake was the massive pounding headache and waves of pain that I felt. I was still dark leading me to conclude that I was still buried under the collapsed ceiling of the cavern. My armor was digging into many different places on my body, some were minor inconveniences and some felt like there was a white hot fire pressed against my body which were most likely bleeding as well. I tried to force my way out but I was simply too tired to lift any of the rock on me and my magic was unresponsive so I couldn't teleport out of my current predicament. It seemed my luck had returned as the rock around me began to glow a faint green color before they rose of me. Not long after someone began to drag me out of the hole I was in. Looking up I saw Spyro pulling me over the edge of the hole before letting the rocks drop back down. As he helped me to my hooves I saw Cynder putting a splint on Anderson clearly broken leg with Johnson lying not far away. "How long?"

"An hour, hour and a half at most. We haven't been attacked since the ceiling fell so I think were safe." I tiredly nodded. Leaning heavily on Spyro we approached Cynder who, after a short augment with Spyro, placed Johnson on his back. Spyro, helping me and carrying Johnson, lead Cynder, who was assisting Anderson, back to the entrance of the cavern. Our joy at surviving the battle was short lived when Spyro saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Cynder look out." Looking to the right we all saw a large black scaly arm swinging towards her and Anderson. Acting on instinct she dove into her shadow. Her action however, left Anderson stranded and unable to move in time due to his broken leg. Anderson cried out in pain as the arm raised him into the air, no doubt his broken leg was being moved a directions that it shouldn't. Before we could move to retaliate the being the arm was connected too dropped down into the cavern with us. At first glance it looked like a shadow dragon but its eyes told us it was a much larger threat. Unlike the glowing red eyes of standard shadow creatures this dragon had glowing gold eyes, a sign that this creature either had a very high rank within Shades forces or was being directly controlled by Shade himself. The dragon raised Anderson in front of its face much like a child examining a new toy. "How pathetic, you're rudimentary body of flesh and blood is so disappointing. After only a few hours of fighting you already succumb to exhaustion. This body could fight for days before succumbing to exhaustion and even then I could simply transfer myself to a new host body and continue the fight." He squeezed a little and Anderson cried out in pain. "It is surprising that such weak creatures have foiled me time and time again. But then again," He looked directly at me with a smug grin. "You started with so many and now it's just the five of you. Five *heh* a number I plan on reducing to one maybe two. I'll take great pleasure in watching those who remain flounder around like fish on land in a ultimately pointless attempt to stop me. But I will leave you for last. I know this world is special to you and I will destroy it slowly. I will make you watch your loved one die around you and only when you are the last living being on the planet will I grant you the mercy of death." He punctuated this statement by squeezing Anderson even harder and tossing him into the nearest wall. As he was ailing through the air we rushed as fast as we could to where he would land. Anderson met the wall with a sickening crunch and fell to the ground unmoving. We didn't have time to check on Anderson before Shade attacked again this time lashing out at Spyro. Spyro recovered before hitting the wall but Johnson who was still unconscious hit the wall and came to a rest not far from Anderson. I suddenly found myself without a support and fell to the floor. Looking up I saw Shade slowly making his way towards us in a lazy manner, victory so certain in his mind. He took a deep breath ready to attack us with a fire breath attack. Gathering the very last of my strength as well as residual magical energy from the air I put up the strongest barrier I could in my weakened state. The flames met my shield and pain surged through my horn… but I endured.

When the flames subsided my shield was covered in cracks, not a single area was left undamaged. Had I been shielding just myself it would have fared better but since I was covering five separate people it had to be big. I forced more energy though my horn to fix the cracks, an action that was not without consequences. The aura around my horn not only dimmed but began to flicker and even dissipate in some places of my horn. And that was just the visible reactions. The pain was almost more than I could bear. It felt as if someone was driving white hot metal rods into different points of my head and it felt like a blowtorch was being held against my horn. The cracks sealed but Shade just pounded on the shield with his fists. I could fix the cracks any longer, it was a miracle I was even still conscious. Cynder dragged Anderson and Johnson closer to me allowing the shield to shrink while Spyro erected a stone shield inside the shield for when my shield inevitable failed. We could no longer see my shield and our only light source was the small fading glow from my horn. It wasn't long before I heard the final crack and the shield shattered. The crack was deafening but I couldn't tell if it was a physical sound or merely one that originated from within my mind. We prepared ourselves for a fight but we didn't expect Shade to dig the shield out of the ground and shake us around like a snow globe. When he was finally bored with that action he through our temporary prison into a wall, shattering it and causing us to fall to the floor, again. Staggering to my hooves I glanced at the others, all of them either too weak to stand or unable to. I turned to face Shade only to be backhanded into the wall, my helmet cracking and half of the visor falling to pieces. I used the wall to stand only to see Shade looking amused at my attempts to defy him. "This has been fun but I think it's time to end our little game."

"What happened to waiting until I was the last person alive so that I could suffer?" He chuckled, "I lied." He drew in a breath, exhaled, and the flames advanced towards us ready to bring our end. Now it's been said in many of the places that I had traveled that magic is a most peculiar thing. That despite all the effort one puts into learning about it, learning to control it, magic will still do as it pleases. Many young children experience burst of uncontrolled magic in times of emotional distress and it has been said that it can happen to full grown adults as well. I've never seen it happen but that has been said across multiple dimensions and cultures. But at the time I didn't care, my end was drawing near and my only thoughts were of Luna and Silver.

* * *

 **POV change: Luna**

 **Canterlot Castle, Canterlot  
Local time: 1530  
Twelve days since return**

It was another boring day in Canterlot and the only reason I was even up at this time was because Tia wished to discuss the unfolding events in the Everfree Forest. This time the discussion included myself, Tia, Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight, the other five Element bearers, and Silver. I did not want Silver to be involved but she does spend most of her time in Ponyville and I don't want her to get hurt simply because she wasn't warned of the danger. The discussions started by bringing Cadence and Shining up to date on what was transpiring. Learning that there was a living elemental claiming lordship over the Everfree Forest was big shock to them. "We do not know when or if the elemental that calls itself Sovereign will return to continue our discussions but if he does I want to be ready. I will be sending a group of delegates to negotiate for us. Though it is likely he will speak to only a princess. Twilight if he does insist on talking to a princess I want you to be the one to negotiate." Twilight seamed hesitant but my sister was always good at making others feel comfortable. "Not only are you the closest princess to the forest but you are more than capable of handling the negotiations. I have the upmost confidence that you will be able to reach a peaceful resolution. I will have a list prepared, things we are willing to concede as well as what we would like out of our agreement. The other threat from the forest we currently face is a series of manticore attacks. The mayor of Ponyville has hired a team of mercenaries to deal with the problem as best they can. After meeting with them personally as well as their successful effort to bring Sovereign in to negotiate I am confident in their ability to solve this problem. However we should send some extra guards to the castle just in case they need assistance." Tia continued to discuss the idea of stationing more guards while I turned to Silver. "Silver, I want you to promise me that you won't go into the forest until I tell you it is okay. I know you are a brave filly but I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

"I promise mom." I smiled at her and turned my attention back to the others. As my sister prepared to end the meeting a crackling sound made us turn towards the center of the room. There hovering just off the ground was a ball of unstable magic, its source was unknown. Shining immediately called for the guards while my sister and Twilight began to probe the magical anomaly. I moved Silver behind me just in case. "This seems like an incomplete teleportation spell." Looking to my sister she nodded in confirmation. "Is there any way to tell who cast it?" She shook her head, "No. but I can tell you why it hasn't finished. There wasn't enough magic put into the spell. Whoever cast it is currently stuck between here and the origin point. If I channel a little more power I should be able to bring them all the way through."

"Twilight is that really a good idea we don't know who cast it." My sister stepped forward. "It is true that we do not know who cast this spell but if we do not finish it whoever is stuck in there will eventually fade. I will not sit here while one of our subjects is in danger. And even if it is not one of our subjects we have a duty to help ponies in need whenever we can. Twilight, please finish the spell." She nodded and placed her horn against the energy ball. After channeling some magic into it she hurriedly took many steps back. "We should all step back, I cannot guarantee that they will arrive exactly at that point." We all stood away from the spell as it grew in size. The guards and Shining insisted on standing in front of us just in case whoever came through was hostile. In moments the crackling sound grew louder while the orb grew much bigger. "I don't understand, adding my magic should have stabilized the field. Was there a problem with the casting of the spell?" Twilight looked very worried, "If that spell is still unstable… We all might want to step further back." Before anyone could respond the spell completed itself. Bolts of uncontained magic flew out of the sphere and stuck some of the guards. None of them were hurt, just knocked down. After a bright flash the crackling ceased signaling the completion of the spell. Lowering the wing I used to cover my eyes I saw a most horrific sight. Lying on the ground in front of us were the mercenaries we were talking about before, all of them sporting horrifying injuries. Spyro was attempting to crawl over to Cynder but was having difficulty moving. Cynder meanwhile clearly couldn't move and reported to reaching out toward Spyro. Anderson and Johnson were not moving leaving me to fear the worst. But the worst was- "Revenant!" Before I could stop her Silver ran out from behind me and to the side of the fallen alicorn. I went to her side as my sister ran to find a doctor and the guards used whatever medical knowledge they had to help. Approaching Revenant I found his sword glowing form heat and bent out of shape. His armor was also blackened from exposure to extreme heat. I was worried when Silver reached out to shake him but when she didn't recoil from the heat I let her continue. "Revenant, are you alright? Can you hear me? We're getting you help." I wasn't expecting him to respond considering his wounds so I jumped a little when he let out a weak chuckle. "Good, the others need help." His voice was weak, muffled but at the same time somehow familiar and he spoke in a different voice than the last time we talked. "But I think it might be too late for me. I took the brunt of that last attack…" his voice got very quiet, "I was ready to die. I was certain we were going to die." He coughed, "How did we get here?"

"You teleported. We had to help you at the end, there wasn't enough magic to fuel the spell." He turned his head so that he was now looking in our direction. "But how? Johnson was unconscious and I didn't have the strength to do it."

"Are you sure, the magic energy was the same color as yours." He nodded, or at least tried to. "I was using the last of my magic to hold the shield up. When it shattered I couldn't…" He coughed again but this time if sounded wet as if he was coughing up something. "I wasn't even trying to teleport. I was thinking of… I was thinking of home… my family." Silver tried to comfort him as we waited for the doctors. He was fading fast but we didn't have to wait long. A few doctors ran into the room with guards carrying stretchers. One of the doctors came over to us and helped move Revenant onto a stretcher. Because he was in such bad shape the rolled him over instead of trying to lift him. When the other side of his face became visible we saw that part of his helmet was torn off leaving his eye visible though it remained closed for now. "You're going to feel better soon Revenant. The doctors will fix you right up."

"I don't know about that kid." They got ready to lift his stretcher when he spoke again. "Do me a favor kid. No matter what happens in life take care of your mom and always listen to her." His eye opened and focused as best it could on Silver. She made a response but I didn't hear it. I was too focused on his eye, it looked like the same eye that I see in my dreams. The same eye that belonged to the stallion that I love. Suddenly things I didn't notice before began clicking together. The color of his magic, the forced distance form his family, his voice, and his eye. But it was impossible, "Guards help me remove his helmet." The looked confused, Revenant needed a doctor but they didn't argue with me. After a minute of fumbling with the odd design the helmet slipped free. Revealing a mane of fire and the face of a long dead stallion. Not even waiting for the guards I grabbed the stretcher with my magic and ran towards the medical wing as quickly as I could.

I lost him once, I won't lose him again.

 **Author's Note:** I want to start off by thanking everyone who is still interested in this story especially since it's been so long since I last updated it. I know that after such a long time many stories are simply abandoned and many people who follow this one probably forgot about it. Which is bad because they might not want to read it anymore but is also good because they will go back and reread the entire story to remind themselves what it is about. Anyway I want to talk about the future of this story. **I am not abandoning this story and I have no plans to do so**. That said it will take a long time to finish this story as it stands right now there are five planned arcs in Following Darkness. Right now we are in the first arc and there are about three more chapters in the first arc. I have the majority of the story mapped out up to chapter 20 which is the start of the third arc. Arc two will be relatively short and there are going to be one or two filler chapters between each arc that are mostly going to be for setting up future events and world building. I would like to have the first arc done before the end of the year. Ideally I want to have the first chapter of the second arc done in time for Christmas as a sort of gift for you guys. Now considering the relation between the show and this story. If none of you have realized that this is AU you should really reread the story. But I will not be including characters or events that take place after season 4. The reason for this is because not only would the events in those episodes force me to make massive changes to the already existing of the story but if you read the end of Soldier of Harmony there is a mention that Twilight was suffering from depression and was delayed in getting Starswirl's unfinished spell from the end of season 3. That means that the entire timeline has been pushed off by six months which changes a number events. Some events were missed, some occurred later, and some occurred soon. For instance in this story Flurry Heart never existed and the fight with Tirek happened sooner than in the show, I assume. Never really put that much thought into what was going to be included from the show. I might include Starlight and Trixie when Steel goes back to Ponyville (don't cry SPOILERS we all knew it was going to happen eventually) and I might make a passing mention of Sunset Shimmer and the mirror but that's really the only things I'm going to include. That's all I really have to say about the story right now. I want to announce that I will be attempting to write a second story alongside this one. It will be related to this story in some way that will be explained later as it is I plan on starting this story around chapter 10. I will go into greater detail about it when we reach the point in this story where it is mentioned. Anyway thanks for continuing to read this story I hope to have the next chapter up around the end of this month or the beginning of the next one. I wish you all the best and please leave a review as a way to let me know who still cares.


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